Mission to France contains the record of those 9 years in diplomatic speeches, public lectures and sermons, personal and official letters we see a new side of Pope John : the man of affairs, always tactful and alert to the human repercussions of a situation, sensitive to its political implications diplomatic, yet making the warmth of his personality felt even across official barriers. In these letters and speeches Pope John reveals himself as a man widely read, with a mind curious for all kinds of knowledge, and a particular pleasure in historical and bibliographical scholarship.