Combining the remnants of shell casings and other items from the Falklands War, Argentine silversmith Juan Carlos Pallarols is crafting a “Chalice of Peace” to give to Pope Leo XIV when he visits Argentina next month.
It has taken Pallarols, one of Argentina’s most renowned silversmiths, 10 months to make the piece ahead of the pope’s November 8-11 trip.
“We’re making it for him and we’re going to present it to him,” Pallarols, 83, said in his workshop in the historic center of Buenos Aires.
The cluttered workshop, where the smell of metal fills the air, is packed with gold, silver and bronze pieces and equipment presses, hammers and engraving tools.
“It’s a very complete workshop,” he laughed.
Aiming to convert items used in war into an object of peace, Pallarols made the chalice from melted munitions as well as rings, bracelets and other personal items donated by veterans of the 1982 Falklands War, fought between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the islands called Las Malvinas in Argentina.
The 10-week war claimed the lives of 649 Argentines and 255 British troops.
Control of the Falklands is a highly emotive issue in Argentina, even though the islanders themselves voted overwhelmingly in 2013 to remain British.
Argentine right-wing President Javier Milei has renewed his country’s claim on the archipelago, but Britain has insisted the island remains British.
Argentina rejects that, arguing that the principle of self-determination does not apply in this case because most islanders are descendants of people brought by Britain in the 1800s.
To make the chalice a gift from the Argentine people, the pacifist Pallarols traveled around the country, letting thousands of people use a small hammer to strike the metal piece.
A descendant of Catalan silversmiths, Pallarols said the family tradition goes back to 1715 and that his ancestors have been making pieces for pontiffs since the 19th century.
“My family has made a chalice for every pope there has been over the last 150 years up to today,” Pallarols said as he walked through the workshop, closely followed by Mingo, his inseparable dog.
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