The Argentinian silversmith who fashioned chalices for Pope Francis, including the one used at Madison Square Garden in 2015, told The Post Monday that his beloved friend would always make him feel like the most important person in the room.
Adrian Pallarols, who worked with the late pontiff for 30 years after meeting in their native Buenos Aires, Argentina, recalled designing the special Communion chalice used by Pope Francis when he hosted Mass at Madison Square Garden nearly a decade ago.
But he said their bond stretched much further beyond any working relationship.
“I’m saying goodbye to a friend, a brother, a father figure,” he said. “For me, he was family. We were close. He baptized my daughter, he married me.”
Pallarols — who knew the pope since he was a parish priest — said that even after becoming the highest-ranking Catholic, Francis still could make him feel like the most valued person in a room.
“He was the most important person but he used to make you feel like you were the most important. He never watched the time. He used to listen to you and give you whatever time you needed,” he recalled.
“I will try to honor him,” Pallarols added in the wake of the beloved pope’s death. “I will take care of others like he took care of me. I won’t be as great as him, but I will try.”
Pallarols, who still lives and works in Buenos Aires, traveled to the Big Apple to hand deliver the 16-pound chalice that Pope Francis used during his religious service at MSG during a two-day Big Apple visit in 2015.
“My intention is when the pope celebrates the Mass and he has to lift the chalice with both hands, it symbolically will be like holding and embracing the American people,” he said at the time.
The nearly foot-tall chalice was handcrafted from small pieces of silver — including earrings, rings and broken chains — that had been donated by 850 worshippers from across the United States.
The chalice, which included a map of the US on its handle, took Pallarols some 450 hours to craft.