Nuns lose legal battle to prevent Katy Perry from purchasing convent

Katy Perry is closer to owning the Los Feliz convent in California after the two nuns who wanted to prevent her from purchasing the property lost their appeal last week.

The Los Angeles County Superior Court ruled on Tuesday that the nuns, Sister Rita Callanan, 78, and Sister Rose Catherine Holzman, 86, cannot block the sale of the convent to Perry.

In a bid to prevent the Los Angeles Diocese from selling the convent to Perry, the two nuns, who belong to Order of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, negotiated the sale to property developer Dana Hollister, who wanted to turn the eight-acre property into a boutique hotel, according to Court House News.

Perry, who offered to pay $14.5 million for the villa, entered the legal battle through her company Birds Nest and accused Hollister of manipulating the nuns. In a September 2015 court filing, Perry said that she would preserve the convent as a "residential oasis" and would allow the sisters to stay for up to two years.

Prior to the court ruling, the nuns expressed their disdain for Perry's lifestyle and accused her of being involved in witchcraft.

"I do not like Katy Perry's lifestyle. I have a lot of the things from the internet to show the Archdiocese what kind of woman she was. Some of the things she does are disgusting," Callanan told the Daily Mail earlier this month.

The nuns called in a Signatura, the highest judicial authority at the Vatican, to intervene in the case after the Archbishop Jose Gomez filed a case against them in civil court.

"We have a lawyer in Rome. I just don't think the pope will let the archbishop sell to Katy Perry," Callanan said at the time.

However, Judge Stephanie Bowick ruled against the nuns after a Vatican decree in court records confirmed that the archbishop controls the property and has governing authority over the religious order which the two sisters belong to.

The archdiocese said that the other nuns in the religious order opposed the attempts to block the sale of the property, which was given to the institute 45 years ago.

Gomez's attorney, Michael Hennigan, said he was pleased with the ruling, although he expects more court hearings.

"It's always been our objective to try to protect the nuns and this was a horrible deal that got done, that the judge has now declared invalid," said Hennigan, referring to the nuns' attempt to sell the property to Hollister.