More than 10,000 couples from all over the world flocked to St. Peter’s Square to celebrate Valentine’s Day with Pope Francis.

In an unprecedented move, the pope invited engaged couples to mark the holiday with him. The response was so overwhelming that church had to move the event from an audience hall inside the Vatican to St. Peter’s Square – some 25,000 people from 28 countries were in attendance.

Love was definitely in the air: Heart-shaped balloons were flying over the square and the couples cheered and chanted along with singers playing Christian songs under a beautiful blue sky.

“We are so excited to be here,” said Silvia Torlisi, a 28-year old bride-to-be from Terni, Italy. “These days it takes courage to marry this young, and sometimes love is not enough. But Pope Francis taught us the importance of having a family.”

Faithful hold heart-shaped balloons as Pope Francis leads a special audience with engaged couple, to celebrate Saint Valentine’s day, in Saint Peter’s square at the Vatican Feb.14, 2014.

The pope urged couples to have the courage to make lasting choices – which can be challenging in what he called today’s throw-away culture.

“It’s important to ask whether it’s possible to love one another forever,” he said. “Today many believe that making lifetime definitive choices is impossible. That’s what leads many who get married to think: ‘We will stay together until it lasts.’”

But he encouraged the young couples to look beyond the here and now to build a future together.

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