A controversial former bishop has joined the Catholic church.

Former Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir Ali, who once called for a ban on burkas in Whitehall, was received into the Catholic faith on September 29.

He will serve in the Ordinariate, a Catholic organisation set up by Pope Benedict XVI a decade ago for the corporate reception of Anglicans.

He will be ordained deacon at Oscott College on October 28 and then as priest by Cardinal Vincent Nichols in Westminster Cathedral on October 30.

Speaking to the Catholic Herald he said: “I believe that the Anglican desire to adhere to apostolic, patristic and conciliar teaching can now best be maintained in the Ordinariate.

“Provisions there to safeguard legitimate Anglican patrimony are very encouraging and, I believe, that such patrimony in its liturgy, approaches to biblical study, pastoral commitment to the community, methods of moral theology and much else besides has a great deal to offer the wider Church.

“I am looking forward to receiving from the riches of other parts of the Church, while perhaps making a modest contribution to the maintenance and enhancement of Anglican patrimony within the wider fellowship.

“Ministry in the Church of Pakistan, in the Middle East generally, in the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion remains precious to me and I see this as a further step in the ministry of our common Lord and of his people. At this time, I ask for prayers as I continue to pray for all parts of the Church”.

Pakistani-born Dr Nazir-Ali sparked controversy during his time as Bishop of Rochester between 1994 and 2009 and continued to do so afterwards.

His diocese covered Medway, north and west Kent and the London Boroughs of Bromley and Bexley.

In 2008 he received death threats for saying in a Sunday newspaper that Islamic extremists created "no-go areas" for non-Muslims in Britain.

In the same year was heavily criticised for not taking part in the Lambeth conference, an annual gathering of bishops from across the Anglican Communion, because a gay American bishop was attending.

In 2018 he called for a ban on burkas in places like Parliament and Whitehall for "reasons of national security".

Dr Nazir-Ali was the first non-white diocesan bishop in the Church of England.

He was the 106th bishop at Rochester, the second oldest cathedral in the country. Before that he was the general secretary of the Church Mission Society.

Dr Nazir-Ali once described himself as being "Catholic and evangelical".

His reception into the Catholic church represents the third English episcopal move to Rome this year.

It comes just weeks after Jonathan Goodall, the former Bishop of Ebbsfleet, stepped down from office to become a Catholic.

In May, John Goddard, the former Bishop of Burnley, was received into the Catholic church.

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