The historian Henry Sire has been expelled from the Order of Malta after writing a book which heavily criticised Pope Francis.

Sire was suspended in March, when the Order set up a disciplinary commission. His book, entitled The Dictator Pope, criticised Francis’s interventions in religious orders, and said the Pope had introduced doctrinal ambiguity, following the programme of the “St Gallen mafia” who brought about his election. Sire also claimed the Vatican was increasingly dominated by corrupt churchmen, while officials with integrity lived in fear of the sack.