"My family asked me why I was leaving so early and who would be traveling with me and I said I would be traveling with Jesus," he stated.
"My family began crying because they were very scared, especially my grandmother who got sick because of this."
His mother, however, gave him 600 pesos ($110 U.S. dollars) and he began his walk to Rio de Janeiro.
"A backpacker depends on money, but I became a real pilgrim because a pilgrim just depends on faith," remarked Facundo.
"I would go into churches to pray and everyone would look at me, but I didn't care because I just wanted to fill myself up with more faith."
Facundo said that when he reached the border with Brazil, he only had 100 pesos ($20 U.S. Dollars) so he decided "to not depend on money anymore, only on prayer."
He walked passed the statue of Our Lady of Itatí and he would then always repeat to himself "Our Lady protects me and Jesus accompanies me."
"The biggest challenge was entering Brazil, with just $13 U.S Dollars, going hungry and not knowing the language," said Facundo.
The boy hitchhiked and a bus driver gave him a lift, who left him at a Cathedral of Iguazu where he heard his first mass in Portuguese and slept in a Franciscan school.
Those at the school offered him a direct flight, but he decided to tag along with other monks who arrived from Boston and were walking to Rio because he thought it would be a better and "more beautiful" pilgrimage.
He traveled day and night and when he was scared, he would pray constantly the Rosary.
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"At one point I felt I couldn't do it anymore and I just kept crying and praying for Jesus to protect everyone and for his will to be done," said Facundo.
After two days going hungry and his toes bruised and blistered, a man traveling to Sao Paolo gave Facundo and the monks a ride.
"It was very dangerous because we didn't have a place to sleep but I just kept praying the rosary," he said.
He arrived the day before World Youth Day to the Marian shrine of Aparecida. "There was a festival going on and I realized how close I was so I began crying," said Facundo.
"I met another Argentinian priest and we went hungry, but we finally made it to Rio," he said. "I was hungry but I was happy."
The Pope, he said, always says a Christian is happy adding "money isn't worth anything, it just gives you security, but Jesus gives you trust and hope."