SBS Dateline | Should Pope stand trial

Outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins has told the Guardian newspaper in the UK that he thinks the Pope should stand trial over the Catholic child sex abuse scandal.

Dawkins, who was interviewed by Dateline last month during a tour of Australia, says Pope Benedict XVI has a case to answer as the head of the Catholic institution.

He’s supporting the current investigation by human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC and solicitor Mark Stephens, who are looking into the Vatican’s validity as a sovereign state, and therefore whether its head can claim diplomatic immunity.

The Catholic sex abuse scandal was highlighted by Dateline recently in an interview with Father Tom Doyle, a Catholic priest who’s long spoken out for the victims of child sex abuse. He told Dateline that he thinks the Vatican should be sold to Disney.

Read the Guardian article and click the links above to watch any of the interviews again.

Geoffrey Robertson QC has also featured on Dateline, speaking about Guantanamo Bay in March 2009.

Photos: AAP