From Vatican City, CEOAFRICA.com gathered that the Catholic Church Pontiff, Pope Francis, has approved April 27, 2014 as the day when late Popes John Paul II and John XXIII would be canonised.

Both past Church leaders would be carnonised at an unprecedented ceremony in a bid to unite Catholic conservatives and liberals, a statement made at a meeting of cardinals known as consistory revealed.

The popular Polish pope John Paul II and his Italian predecessor known as “Good Pope John XXIII” are two of modern-day Catholicism’s most influential figures.

The double sainthood is seen by Vatican watchers as an attempt to breach a traditional left-right divide in the Church.

“John XXIII is generally a hero to the church’s progressive wing while John Paul II is typically lionized by Catholic conservatives,” said John Allen, from the National Catholic Reporter, a US weekly.

Allen said the decision could be interpreted as “a statement that any attempt to set them at odds is artificial, and that what they had in common is more fundamental than any perceived differences”.

Sources disclosed that Sainthood normally requires two “confirmed” miracles, although the canonasation of John XXIII (1958-1963) was approved based on just one.

John Paul II, who served as pontiff from 1978 to 2005, was credited with his first miracle just six months after his death, when a French nun said she had been cured, through prayer, of Parkinson’s — a disease he had also suffered from.

His second miracle was reportedly carried out on a woman in Costa Rica, who said she was healed from a serious brain condition by praying for John Paul’s intercession on the same day he was beatified in 2011.

The Polish pope was popular throughout his 27-year papacy and helped topple Communism — although he alienated many with his conservative views and was blamed for hushing up paedophile priest scandals.

During his burial mass presided over by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who later succeeded him as Pope Benedict XVI, crowds of mourners cried “Santo Subito”, which means “Sainthood Now”.

John XXIII made his name by calling the historic Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) which overhauled the Church’s rituals and doctrines and reached out to other faiths. He was also revered for his humble nature and meekness.

The reportedly miraculous healing of an Italian nun who had severe internal hemorrhages was attributed to John XXIII when he was beatified in 2000 by John Paul II.

Francis is believed to have waived the need for a second miracle because his canonisation had been called for by the participants of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, who wanted to pay homage to the man who ushered the Church into modern times.

Francis also promises to be a reformist pope, planning an overhaul of the Vatican bureaucracy and finances and promising a “poor Church for the poor”.

On Tuesday, he will begin three days of talks with an advisory board of eight cardinals he has appointed to help him clean up the troubled Roman Curia — the intrigue-filled administration — and improve communication between the Vatican and local churches.

Pope John Paul II was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI, now emeritus, in 2011.