Photo from Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information Service (photograph by Jeon Han), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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Francis, the first Bishop of Rome of that name, will be remembered as the man who stood before the world for a dozen years as the smiling face of the Roman Catholic Church. He will probably not be remembered as the most notoriously dour face in the College of Cardinals, but that was his reputation before his election. Dr. Boli’s favorite picture of the Archbishop of Buenos Aires before he became pope was taken on the subway, where he was sitting with the rest of the commuters, looking as utterly glum as any assistant clerk on his way to the office.

In the coming days we shall doubtless hear many eulogies and not a few critical assessments of Francis, but Dr. Boli will remember him most for his smile. It was a deliberate act of heroism. It was not natural to him at all, but he realized that what the Catholic Church needed at this moment was a smiling face at the top. So he taught himself to smile. It had to be done, and he did it. Moreover, he managed to make it look natural, unlike his predecessor—a naturally pleasant and cheerful man who always looked slightly terrifying when he smiled.

If there is one lesson to be learned from the career of the late Pope Francis, then, let it be this: that pleasantness and good cheer can be a duty, and that the world cannot be improved without them—even if they come at great personal cost.