Katy Perry has won a step in her battle to buy a Roman Catholic convent.
The ‘Firework’ hitmaker wanted to buy the eight-acre Los Angeles property from the archdiocese of Los Angeles, run by Archbishop Jose Gomez, last year but the nuns living in the building deemed the singer an unsuitable owner and wanted to sell to Dana Hollister, a businesswoman who wanted to use it as a hotel.
And yesterday (13.04.16), Los Angeles superior court judge Stephanie Bowick approved the archdiocese’s motion to block the sale to Hollister as she ruled the sale was improper.
The archdiocese were gratified by the news.
They said in a statement: "The archdiocese will continue to provide pastoral outreach and care to the sisters.
"We will take any necessary steps to continue to protect the sisters and ensure that any transaction on the sale of the property will provide them with immediate funding for their care."
However, this doesn’t mean Katy will be able to buy the building as she still needs to have her bid approved by the Vatican in order to complete the sale.
Last July, the nuns claimed they were "being forced to violate" their vows by selling their convent to Katy.
In an email correspondence sent from Sister Catherine Rose Holzman to Archbishop Gomez from May 22, she wrote: "In selling to Katy Perry, we feel we are being forced to violate our canonical vows to the Catholic Church."