Who?

The Economist is a century-and-a-half old British magazine (it styles itself as a "newspaper") that has published a U.S. edition for several decades. It also calls itself conservative, and, though that term has a somewhat different meaning in Britain than it does here, it generally is, on economic issues anyway. I find it to be informative and objective in its news coverage; it does editorialize, but clearly labels it opinions as such.

The magazine has an online  feature called "The Economist explains." Of interest to us is its Q&A prompted by the election of Pope Francis, "Who are the Jesuits?"

"The election of Pope Francis on March 13th was surprising for several reasons. He is the first pope from South America, making him the first non-European since the 8th century. He is also the only pope to take the name Francis—evoking the humility of St Francis of Assisi, a 12th century Italian monk. Most surprising of all, he is the only member of the Society of Jesus, a religious order dating from the 16th century, to become a pope. But just who are the Jesuits, exactly?"

The Economist answers with its version here..

Anyone who has attended a Jesuit school knows about the soldier Ignatius Loyola's inspiration to pursue a life of learning and missionary work while convalescing from battle wounds and the founding of the Society of Jesus. I have not, however, sound a comprehensive history of the order in English. If anyone knows of one, I wold appreciate the reference.