Pope Francis announces beatification date for Paul VI

The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis has set a beatification date for another of his predecessors Paul VI.

The move comes after the Pope approved a miracle credited to the intercession of Paul VI, who died in 1978 after a 15-year pontificate.

Paul V1 is remembered for his ban on artificial contraception for Catholics.

According to the BBC, the beatification ceremony will be held at the Vatican on 19 October.

Beatification is the third of four steps in the process by which someone officially becomes a saint.

It requires at least one miracle to have been attributed to the intercession of a candidate for sainthood who, once beatified, is given the title blessed, the report said.

After beatification, a separate miracle would have to be verified in order for Paul VI to be canonised - declared a saint, it added.

The move came two weeks after the canonisation of two other 20th Century popes - John XXIII and John Paul II.