Arguments and tensions are inevitable in modern society and should not be brushed under the carpet, Pope Francis said, warning that trying to impose a uniform vision fostered frustration and violence, Reuters reports.

Addressing a peace gathering in a Roman amphitheatre in the northern Italian city of Verona, the pope said people needed to learn how to deal with conflict before it got out of hand, but also recognise that holding different opinions was healthy.

“A society without conflicts is a dead society. A society that hides conflicts is a suicidal society. A society that takes conflicts by the hand is a society of the future,” the pope told some 12,500 people gathered in the ancient arena.

“The flaw of dictatorships is not admitting plurality,” he added.

Francis said the world was assailed by wars, but added that ordinary people had to try to build bridges and avoid being dragged into armed conflict at the behest of their leaders.

“Ideologies have no feet to walk, no hands to heal wounds, no eyes to see the sufferings of others. Peace is made with the feet, hands, and eyes of the people involved,” he said.

Underscoring the pope’s hopes for personal reconciliation, an Israeli man, whose parents died in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, embraced on the Verona stage a Palestinian peace activist whose brother had died in an Israeli jail.

“I don’t think there are any words to add to this,” the pope said, leading the applause for their gesture.

“Don’t stop. Don’t get discouraged. Don’t become spectators of so-called ‘inevitable’ wars,” he told his audience.