The rock star in 76-year-old Pope Francis was revealed on Friday in Rio de Janeiro as more than one million young people from different nations attended his preaching at the wet Copacabana Beach.

Among those who attended was an Argentinean youth named Facundo who walked 1,829 miles and crossed borders to see his "idol," Pope Francis. The high school graduate used his two feet to join about 2 million youth for the 15th international World Youth Day celebrations hosted by Rio de Janeiro because he did not have travel money.

It would have cost Facundo 7,000 pesos ($1,280) to join the delegation from his hometown Jujuy, but since he did not have the funds nor was allowed by the group to hitch, proved that distance was no barrier for his rock-like faith.

Facundo relied solely on a route provided by a local priests, but was lost several times in Argentina and Brazil since it was his first time to leave his town, much less Argentina.

His family initially opposed Facundo's sojourn by feet when he told them on July 1 that he would be a literal pilgrim and walk all the way to WYD, but his mother relented and gave him 600 pesos ($110). The next day, he started his three-week walk.

Facundo arrived at the Marian shrine of Aparecida a day before the WYD after suffering blisters on his feet and constant hunger. Fortunately, he met a WYD volunteer who sent him to a convent opposite Copacabana Beach where he could sleep for one week.

"It is worth seeing a Pope who notices poor people and that's why I would like to meet him. I would really like to tell him how nice it is to follow Jesus and that he is right," CNA/EWTN News quoted Facundo.

It was to poor youth like Facundo that the pope's revolutionary message was addressed to.

"What is it that I expect as a consequence of World Youth Day? I want a mess. We knew that in Rio there would be great disorder, but I want trouble in the dioceses! ... I want to see the church get closer to the people. I want to get rid of clericalism, the mundane, this closing of ourselves within ourselves, in our parishes, schools or structures. Because these need to get out!" Pope Francis was quoted by Swampland.

It was the biggest gathering so far in WYD Rio as young pilgrims camped eight hours ahead of the arrival of the pope on the wet beach, indicating that Pope Francis is on the road to following the footstep of the WYD founder, Pope John Paul II.

Like the soon-to-become-a-saint pontiff, Pope Francis also appeared to have a hotline to heaven as the rains stopped on Friday morning to allow the preaching to take place. A similar miracle happened in 2002 in Toronto when the sun peeped and shone for Pope John Paul II's Mass at the WYD in Canada after several hours of bad weather.

However, it seems that Pope Francis still has to catch up on the numbers since the biggest crowd he has gathered in more than 1 million, while Pope John Paul II broke world records in 1998 when he said Mass in Manila and 5 million people turned up for the Eucharistic celebration.

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