Popi vaticanus

The Internet Oracle has pondered your question deeply. Your question was:

You know all these mystical and religious things. Please tell me everything about the Pope.

And in response, thus spake the Oracle:

popi vaticanus

(colloquially known just as "The Pope") is a bipedal mammal, probably of the primate order. As all known examples of the popi genus have been male, how this creature reproduces has been a matter of debate among biologists for years.

Recent studies suggest that perhaps it is asexual, spawning one and only one successor before passing on. This is substantiated by the fact that, with the exception of one point in the middle ages, only one popeus has been known to exist at any one time (certain scholars argue that these exceptions are irrelevant, as in these cases one of the popes was of the popi francais sister species).

The vaticanus is noted for its shock of white hair and high domed head. Its use of tools is well-known, and ranges from the somewhat primitive crossed hunting stick it carries everywhere to an apparent grasp of network technologies as demonstrated by http://www.vatican.va/

Much further work must be done on the vaticanus to truly understand this rare and possibly endangered species.

You owe the Oracle a biological study of the supplicanti non-gratus.