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Whatsapp Katy Perry sang 'Oh Happy Day' in an effort to impress the former residents of the LA convent.

Pop star Katy Perry has become involved in a bitter internecine fight between five elderly Los Angeles nuns and the archbishop of LA over the multi-million dollar sale of a former convent. The singer wants to purchase the Italianate mansion, but the sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary have other ideas. RN Breakfast reports.

Pop star Katy Perry has reportedly had her eye on a mansion in the Los Angeles suburb of Los Feliz for years. Now it’s up for sale, but there’s just one problem: its previous residents, five elderly nuns, don’t want to sell to her.

It’s not that ‘Roar’ singer hasn’t tried to convince the sisters of the Order of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She even went so far as to stage a private performance for them, singing ‘Oh Happy Day’. The nuns, however, were reportedly unimpressed by the fact that Perry had to read the lyrics on her smartphone and nonplussed by the tattoo of Jesus on her wrist.

The nuns ... seemed to indicate that they don't much care for Katy Perry's style of entertainment.

‘Perry's representatives want to make clear that the archbishop begged her to go and talk to the nuns, that it wasn't her idea, that she went at his behest,’ New York Times Hollywood reporter Michael Cieply told RN Breakfast.

‘It didn't turn out well. One of the puzzlements of this, though, is that the nuns ... seemed to indicate that they don't much care for Katy Perry's style of entertainment, but when I spoke to them about two days later they just as adamantly insisted that this has nothing to do with any moral objections to Katy Perry, that it was all about the terms of the deals.’

The heart of the dispute is a disagreement between the five nuns and the archbishop of Los Angeles, Josè Gomez. The archbishop prefers Perry’s $10 million offer, while the nuns favour an offer from a restaurant and hotel developer.

‘Either of the deals will ultimately work to the benefit of the nuns because no matter who buys this, as long as the five of them are alive, they get the use of the up to $15 million that will be paid. Yet they adamantly don't want to sell to Katy Perry and the archbishop just as adamantly does,’ said Cieply.

‘The nuns strongly believe that if they take the deal from the developer that they will be in control of the money completely and the archbishop and his lawyers argue that that is simply not correct, and that the nuns, who have not lived on the property for years now, since 2011, have had their civil affairs under the supervision of a priest in Los Angeles who has the actual authority to conduct their affairs.’

What’s unclear is whether the dispute is actually about the money, moral opposition to Perry or the nuns’ objecting to the archbishop’s authority. The sisters have even gone so far as to request help from Pope Francis—and as it turns out the decision may go all the way to the Holy See.

‘There will be a hearing July 30, the judge is being asked to issue an injunction blocking the sale to the developer and that would operate in favour of Katy Perry,’ said Ciepry. ‘But the ringer is that any deal of $7.5 million or more has to go to the Vatican anyway.’

Katy Perry at odds with nuns over sale of former Los Angeles convent Listen to RN Breakfast to hear more about the standoff between pop superstar Katy Perry and a group of elderly nuns.

RN Breakfast is the show informed Australians wake up to. Start each day with comprehensive coverage and analysis of national and international events, and hear interviews with the people who matter today—along with those who’ll be making news tomorrow.

