Born in Jurançon (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) into a family of six, he spent his youth in the Basque Country and Auvergne, where he practised various sports and, from very early on, scouting.

[7] He was then seen on various France Télévisions stages, invited in particular by Patrick Poivre d'Arvor and Mireille Dumas, or even on BFM TV[8] and on Grand Journal of Canal+, the day after the election of Pope Francis, whom he had met at length in Buenos Aires, 14 years earlier.

He traveled, most often by hitchhiking, in more than 80 countries, including: India, Nepal, Iran, Afghanistan, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Guyana, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Guatemala, Cuba, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Soviet Union, Iceland, United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Austria, United States, Canada, Holy Land, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritania, Greece, Turkey, South Africa, Zaire, Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, China, Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan.

He was in demand for more than 30 years to give conferences, lead retreats and meetings,[9] accompany pilgrimages, participate in interfaith dialogue, in France and outside France, and enthusiastically shared his faith in a God of Love throughout the world: France,[10] Mauritius, Rodrigues Island, Réunion, Seychelles, Tahiti, New Caledonia, Marquesas Islands, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Mauritania, Morocco (in particular: Fez Music Festival), Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, United States, Quebec, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, England, Czech Republic, Croatia and the Holy Land (pilgrimages).

He was often invited to Radio Notre-Dame on the program Écoute dans la nuit by its host Chantal Bally, in which he was interviewed by listeners and where he dealt with a subject determined by mutual agreement between them.