About Adolfo Nicolás
Adolfo Nicolás Pachón (29 April 1936 – 20 May 2020) was a Spanish Catholic priest who served as the 30th superior general of the Society of Jesus from 2008 to 2016. He previously taught at Sophia University in Tokyo for twenty years and headed educational institutions in Manila from 1978 to 1984 and in Tokyo from 1991 to 1993. He led the Jesuits in Japan from 1993 to 1996 and, after four years of pastoral work in Tokyo, led the Jesuits in Asia from 2004 to 2008. Though elected superior general for life, Nicolás, like his predecessor Peter Hans Kolvenbach, resigned, as the Jesuit constitutions permit. == Early life and education == Adolfo Nicolás was born in Villamuriel de Cerrato, Palencia, and entered the Society of Jesus, more commonly known as the Jesuits, in the novitiate of Aranjuez in 1953. He studied at the University of Alcalá, where he earned his licentiate in philosophy. He traveled to Japan in 1960 to familiarize himself with Japanese language and culture. He began his theological studies for the priesthood at Sophia University in Tokyo in 1964, and was ordained to the priesthood on 17 March 1967. == Priestly ministry == From 1968 to 1971, he studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, from where he earned a doctorate in theology. Upon his return to Japan, Nicolás was made professor of systematic theology at his alma mater of Sophia University, teaching there for the next twenty years.
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