Just call her Sister Katy Perry?
Just kidding. But a judge ruled Wednesday in Los Angeles that singer Perry will get a chance to buy the hilltop Catholic convent she's been pining for since last year.
In one of those wacky cases that could only happen in real-estate-obsessed El Lay, Perry, some nuns, an archbishop and a restaurateur/businesswoman have been tussling since last June over the former Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary convent, a villa-style estate on several acres in the pricey Los Feliz area, with spectacular views of downtown Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Mountains.
Perry offered $14.5 million for the property but two elderly nuns who used to live there tried to sell it to someone else, entrepreneur Dana Hollister. The nuns weren't interested in selling to the likes of Perry (even if she was raised a good Protestant girl).
But the local Catholic archbishop wanted to sell to Perry, arguing that the nuns didn't own the property and had no right to sell it.
Now Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Bowick has ruled that the nuns' attempts to sell the property to Hollister were improper. She voided the sale, clearing the way for Perry to purchase it.
Hollister recorded a deed on the property, but Bowick's ruling rescinds it.
Still, the battle for the ex-convent goes on: Perry's bid still has to be approved by the Vatican.
Perry has been eyeing the convent property for several years, according to the Los Angeles Times. She tried to sweet-talk the nuns by meeting with them, wearing conservative clothing, and singing Oh, Happy Day for them.
She told the nuns she wanted to move in her mother and grandmother, sit in the meditation garden, sip green tea and find herself.
But the nuns checked out her videos and didn't like what they saw.
Contributing: The Associated Press
