This Pope is the product of a country which has had a dysfunctional left wing government for around 100 years. He is a product of that dysfunction. He is a socialist and a Jesuit. That means that politically he is a left winger, and religiously he is an anti-traditionalist. Summing it up, he is a disaster for the Catholic Church.
Since the Catholic Church supported the early Russian Communists, the gift is appropriate. The Catholic Church hoped the Communists would break the Orthodox stronghold and give them an open door.