It may be time to consider a universal basic wage because the coronavirus pandemic impacts low-income workers twice as hard, Pope Francis suggested Sunday in a letter to members of social movements around the world.

Street vendors, small farmers, construction workers, gig workers and others have no steady income to get them through the global health crisis, the pontiff wrote. He said a universal basic wage would acknowledge and dignify the noble, essential tasks these workers carry out.

It would ensure and concretely achieve the ideal, at once so human and so Christian, of no worker without rights, he wrote.

Pope Franciss letter was meant for advocacy groups that attend the Vaticans World Meeting of Popular Movements, an annual gathering of activists that organize for marginalized peoples, including the homeless, indigenous peoples, undocumented workers, and others without job security. In the U.S., these groups include organizations such as the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the Faith in Action network.

He didnt offer any specifics about how he thinks such a policy would work in practice, but the letter encouraged social advocacy groups to continue fighting for those exploited and marginalized by the the idolatry of money.

Our civilization so competitive, so individualistic, with its frenetic rhythms of production and consumption, its extravagant luxuries, its disproportionate profits for just a few needs to downshift, take stock, and renew itself, Francis wrote.