Why do you think the Pope supported Mussolini?

Pope Pius XI and Mussolini entered into a form of symbiotic relationship whereby Mussolini granted various sorts of favours to enhance the prestige of the church in Italy and in return Pope viewed strong and radical government beneficial for his position and ideology.

Explanation:

The period of the early 1920s was a period of turmoil in Italy and around the world. The pope and the dictator Mussolini struck rather a similar note on all issues and programs. These convergence in beliefs and ideas were part of a larger aim to build consensus on issues of mutual interest.

Mussolini granted favours to church on several issues and in return, Pope provided legibility and tacit support to the regime. E. g. The new relationship saw negotiations starting to resolve the political status of Papacy in Italy which later culminated into recognising the Vatican city's sovereignty to the Pope. Later when Mussolini enforced one-party dictatorial regime, Pope exhorted the clergymen to support the regime.

The above reference speaks about the mutually beneficial relationship between the two. However, this cannot be sustained for long, after the pope concluded that fascism in Italy was a bigger problem than communism.