VATICAN CITY:The Jesuit order elected Spaniard Adolfo Nicolas as its head at a conclave in Rome on Saturday.
Father Nicolas (71) 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.
He succeeds Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, who received permission from Pope Benedict to retire as head of the order, formally known as the Society of Jesus, at the age of 79.
The 468-year history of the Jesuit order has often featured stormy relations with the Vatican. Pope Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul, believed the Jesuits had become too independent, left-wing and political, particularly in Latin America.
Father Kolvenbach won widespread praise for mending relations with the Vatican during his years in the post.
He also had to deal with declining vocations and the future of the order, founded by St Ignatius Loyola in 1540. In the 1960s, the Jesuit order had some 36,000 members. It now has about 19,200, involved in education, refugee help and other social services.