Though elected Superior General for life, Nicolás, like his predecessor Peter Hans Kolvenbach, resigned, as the Jesuit constitutions permit.

[1] 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.

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.

[4] He was Director of the East Asian Pastoral Institute at the Ateneo de Manila University, in Quezon City, Philippines, from 1978 to 1984,[5] and later served as rector of the theologate in Tokyo from 1991 to 1993, when he was appointed Provincial of the Jesuit Province of Japan.

"[11] In March 2011, Nicolás forwarded a communiqué of revisions to the General Curia restructuring the secretariats, including the creation of new positions and a commission.

[12] Nicolás, after consulting with Pope Francis, determined to resign after his 80th birthday, and initiated the process of calling a Jesuit General Congregation to elect his successor.

[1] Nicolás announced his intention to resign at age 80[13] and convoked the thirty-sixth General Congregation, which was convened in Rome on 2 October 2016 and appointed his successor, Arturo Sosa from Venezuela.

"[16] In the homily of the Mass celebrated after his election as Superior General, Nicolás emphasized service, based on the scriptural reading for that day, the words of St. Ignatius of Loyola, and Benedict XVI's teaching on God is love.

"[19] In a November 2008 interview with El Periodico, Nicolás described liberation theology as a "courageous and creative response to an unbearable situation of injustice in Latin America.

"[20] Then in September 2013, six months after the election of Pope Francis, Catholic New Service reported "a reversal of policy [toward liberation theology] under Pope Francis, ... the fruit of a long and painful process, through which the church has clarified the nature of its commitment to the world's poor today",[23] showing "an indestructible love for Christ [sic: Christ's] poor.

[25] The text, written by Jesuits and lay experts, introduced a series of reforms that could reduce inequalities, which included calls for public policies aimed at redistribution of wealth, good governance of natural and mineral resources, stricter regulation of the economic and financial markets, combating corruption and for more developed nations to allocate 0.7% of their GDP for the development of poorer countries.