The economic crisis should push people to look at the values reflected in their civic life and prompt an honest evaluation of whether citizens are working together to promote justice and solidarity, Pope Benedict said.

Addressing the mayor of Rome and the presidents of the province of Rome and region of Lazio Jan. 12, the pope said that among the causes of the financial crisis is "individualism, which obscures the relational dimension of the person and leads him to close himself off in his own little world, to be attentive mostly to his own needs and desires, worrying little about others."