Katy Perry Is One Step Closer to Beating Some Nuns in Court

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Don’t call it a Teenage Dream but Katy Perry’s might have just come true.

For the past year, Perry has been involved in a legal battle with a few Catholic nuns over the sale of an eight-acre hilltop entrance mansion in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. The 30,000 square feet estate, formerly belonged to the California Institute of the Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Unfortunately for the nuns, after 40 years of living on the beautiful property, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles told all of the sisters that they had to leave.

Enter Perry. The former gospel-singing/now stadium-touring pop star offered a reported $14.5 million to purchase the estate ($10 million cash), but was turned down by the nuns. Rather, they wished to sell it to Dana Hollister, a restauranteur that hoped to turn the French-style chateau into a hotel. The only problem? Hollister’s offer of $15.5 million only included $100,000 upfront in cash, and the nuns don’t actually own the property — the Catholic Church does. Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez — who represents the Catholic Church, and thus has more say in the matter — has been advocating for Perry, while the nuns have continued to favor Hollister.

Today, however, it appears that Perry is one step closer to coming out the winner. Despite the nun’s earlier claims that “it would be a sin to sell to [Katy Perry]” because she “represents everything we don’t believe in,” it could be Perry’s name that is signed on the dotted line after all.

According to a report in the Los Angeles Times , Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Bowick “extinguished” the nuns’ attempts to sell to Dana Hollister given that the church has jurisdiction, making their sale unauthorized. This still doesn’t mean that the battle is over, however — especially given that John Scholnick, the nuns’ attorney, is considering an appeal on behalf of his clients.

Either way, it’s clear that Perry has an upper hand in the situation now. But what about the nuns? Those poor nuns! I guess they’ll have to pray — and maybe listen to Perry’s “By the Grace of God” on repeat?