Jesuit Asia missions
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The Jesuits, or Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic religious order, have had a long history of missions in East and South Asia from their very foundation in the 16th century.{{Cite book |last1=Cañizares-Esguerra |first1=Jorge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JJByDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 |title=Encounters between Jesuits and Protestants in Asia and the Americas |last2=Maryks |first2=Robert Aleksander |last3=Hsia |first3=Ronnie Po-Chia |date=2018-08-13 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-37382-2 |language=en}} St. Francis Xavier, a friend of St. Ignatius of Loyola and co-founder of the Society, visited India, the Moluques, Japan and died (1552) as he was attempting to enter China.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}