Following the Second World War, the populace of many nations began to seek out answers for the reason so much carnage enveloped the world, more than 40 million people. Some turned to the governments for answers, others to their peers, and some turned to God and the Church. The Church had not intervened in a way that was particularily useful, with the Pope even supporting the actions of Mussolini and Hitler before the war. Seeing this as a major failing in the church's history, the Pope and his cardinals agreed that they had to greater role in the lives of their followers to prevent such a terrible event from blighting mankind in the future. The Pope held a meeting with several archbishops and leaders of churches in other nations around Italy to discuss the plan to expand the Church's grip,