Pope Francis as the Second 'Smiling Pope'

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and Americans ever since have pondered what might have been. Fifteen years later, the Catholic Church faced the same question about Pope John Paul I, the “Smiling Pope” who exuded warmth and simplicity, and who died of a heart attack on Sept. 28, 1978, after just 33 days in office.

Americans may still be uncertain, but today Catholics basically have an answer: Had John Paul I lived, he may well have been much like Pope Francis.