Well this is awkward
The Pope’s face said it all when Bolivia’s left-wing President Evo Morales gave him a crucifix Thursday displaying Jesus nailed to a hammer and sickle. The Pontiff examined the gift politely, and then handed it back to a Bolivian political aide, the Guardian reports.
The hammer and sickle is a prominent symbol in Marxism, an atheist political ideology. While this particular crucifix was designed by an activist Jesuit, the Guardian says some Conservative Catholics have taken offense to the gift, calling the move manipulative.