The leader of the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic religious order, will visit Korea next week.

During his four-day stay, Rev. Adolfo Nicolas, the superior general of Jesuits worldwide, will preside over a mass and meetings with Korean Catholic leaders, including Seoul’s archbishop Andrew Yeom Soo-jung.

The mass will be at 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 16 at St. Ignatius House inside Sogang University in Seoul.

The Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola about 500 years ago, is noted for its educational, missionary and charitable works.

The current Pontiff Francis belongs to this order. He is the first Jesuit pope.

Spanish-born Nicolas was elected to the post of superior general in 2008.

He has run Jesuit operations in East Asia and Oceania since 2004 and spent most of his career in the Far East after being ordained in Tokyo in 1967.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)