do not see what that has to do with his bird watching skills
my point was that it does not make a big differance if a Pope from late antiquity believed that the Pheonix was a real bird, the people back then did not have as good an understanding of science as we do and they believed in a lot of creatures that we know not to be real, this does not make them Pagan or whatever.
If the Pheonix was a real bird that would burn up and then rise from the ashes, would you use this as a symbol for Christ?