Ethan Hawke believes Pope Francis could stop Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine

Ethan Hawke thinks Pope Francis can stop Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The ‘Black Phone’ actor has called on the head of the Catholic church to follow the example of his namesake Saint Francis of Assisi – who “marched across the desert to the battlefield in the fifth crusade to try to have audience with the sultan” as an “act of peace” – by standing up to the Russian president.

Appearing on ‘The Late Show’ this week, Ethan said: “Pope Francis should take his namesake, and if he would do it, if he would lead a march from Belarus to Mariupol, and we would all go. “And we could bring the refugees to their homes. And, like, priests and rabbis – and we could all go and say you have to stop killing children.

“The choice shouldn’t be whether to escalate the war, or for democracy to fail.”

He insisted people need to take a stand against Putin and his actions, which would then give people time to “focus our energy” on other issues such as climate change.

He added: “I feel like the grown-ups of the world need to stand up and say, ‘You’re not allowed to bomb and kill children. You’re not allowed to do it. You gotta behave like a grown-up.’

“And that way we could focus our energy on taking care of the planet and address the real [crises] that are happening right now, instead of making them up.”

Meanwhile, the 51-year-old star explained he singled out Pope Francis specifically because he commands a “moral authority” which few others have.

He said: “The reason why him, I keep thinking about where the voice for non-violence is. Where is Martin Luther King? Where is Mother Teresa? Where is Nelson Mandela?

“Where are the voices of people to ask us to join together? And I feel like he’s one of the very few people I can think of that has that moral authority.”