It was the "gotcha" moment religious and political conservatives yearned for; one revealing Pope Francis's not-so-subtle Marxist beliefs.
The only problem is the socialist papal did nothing more than champion his church's cause at time when they desperately followers.
Francis, a stanch opponent of capitalism, accepted a "communist crucifix" depicting Jesus nailed to a hammer and cycle from Bolivia President Evo Morales during his Latin America tour last week. The crucifix, which wasn't cleared as a gift, mirrors one designed by a disgraced Jesuit priest who was tortured and killed for his Marxist beliefs in the 1980s.
What Francis told the left-wing president in receiving the gift varies by translation. Some have the pope saying "That's not right" or "I did not know that" while others think it was something like "We are not amused." In any case, the Vatican has no intention of putting it in the church.
Francis, however, sees Rev. Luis Espinal's creation as protest art, going so far as to say "I understand his work. For me it wasn't offensive."
Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi elaborated on Francis's belief. "You can dispute the significance and use of the symbol now, but the origin is from Espinal and the sense of it was about an open dialogue, not about a specific ideology," Lombardi said, according to the Washington Post.
This, much like many of his liberal views, is where the pope's message on class warfare distorts to fit an agenda. Roman Catholics in the Vatican and U.S. Republican lawmakers already considered Francis a danger to the church well before his South American visit.
Francis affirmed evolution and the Big Bang didn't contradict the Bible. He proclaimed "Who am I to judge?" when asked about welcoming gay priests into the church. He Holy Father mediated a deal with U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro that led to lifts on 55-year-old trade embargos.
Last month, he released an environmental encyclical - Laudato Si - calling for ecological conversion; warning of climate change, global warming, and detrimental effects on the poor. Fossil fuels and the free-market economy, U.S. Republican lawmakers countered, have lifted millions of people of out poverty.
Then came his acceptance of Moreno's crucifix; a communist symbol coming from a man whose socialist and anti-church stance is well-known. The Vatican, like many conservatives, opposed the gift because it represents a call to arms against right-winged regimes, or at least it did in the 1970s and 1980s.
Francis didn't see it that way. In the crucifix, the pope saw struggles of indigenous people across Latin America. He saw a way of drawing people back to the church after leaving in record numbers. While Latinos remain overwhelmingly Catholic, a Pew Center Research survey found 69 percent of Latin Americans identify with the religion as opposed to 90 percent in 1970.
During his three-country trip, Francis celebrated Mass with each country's indigenous, poverty-stricken people, vowing to fight social inequalities that put profits ahead of their well-being. He's even pushing for sainthood of the late Archbishop Oscar Romero, who fought for the poor during El Salvador's civil war before his assassination 35 years ago.
The battles between Communism and Catholicism have torn Latin American countries apart. Since his time as Argentinian archbishop, Francis has strenuously tried finding a delicate balance between church and state by railing against social injustices devastating the world's most famished neighborhoods.
For the Catholic Church to win back Latina America, they have to follow the pope's lead, even if it means breaking bread with a suspect president. For U.S. Republicans to win his favor, they must realize doesn't follow a political agenda regardless of his liberal, yet widely accepted beliefs.
Francis serves the people, regardless of what some portray him to be.