In 2013, Katy Perry attempted to purchase a new home and inadvertently kicked off a years-long legal battle in the process. The “Dark Horse” singer was at odds with a group of nuns over the sale and the Vatican eventually became involved. Their ruling in the case was likely not one Perry liked.
Katy Perry purchased a home, sparking a legal battle
In 2013, Perry tried to purchase a former Los Angeles convent. Archbishop Jose Gomez accepted Perry’s cash offer of $14.5 million. Almost immediately, though, a problem arose. The convent had been the home of the remaining Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary before the Archdiocese of Los Angeles evicted them against their will.
“We had to do what we were told,” Sister Catherine Rose Holzman told Billboard. “I think it’s because they were trying to sell our property. They had been trying for years even when we lived there. But none of us ever wanted to leave.”
Not only did the nuns not want to leave, they believed it was not right for someone like Perry to live in the home.
“Katy Perry represents everything we don’t believe in,” Holzman said. “It would be a sin to sell to her.”
Perry visited the nuns in an attempt to win them over, but her efforts were in vain. The Sisters sold the home to developer Dana Hollister before Perry completed the purchase.
Katy Perry needed the Vatican’s approval to purchase the home in the legal battle
In 2015, Perry and the archdiocese sued Hollister. Perry, the archdiocese, and Hollister all claimed the nuns were being taken advantage of by the other.
“It’s interesting [Perry] has all this girl power and she’s running over a woman and five nuns,” Hollister said, adding, “We are going to Rome. We are not quitting now. We are just getting warmed up.”
In 2017, a judge ruled in favor of the archdiocese. This didn’t give Perry ownership of the home, though. Any sale of church property over $7.5 million requires approval from the Vatican, which they did not have at that time.
“The court finds that the sisters did not have the authority to sell the property to Hollister,” wrote Judge Stephanie Bowick in her ruling. “The Pope did not consent to the sale of the property to Hollister and there was no written approval from the Holy See or the archbishop.”
Later that year, the Vatican refused to give approval of the sale until Perry found a replacement for the property’s House of Prayer.
One of the nuns said the singer had blood on her hands
In 2018, Holzman was in court for a post-judgment hearing when she collapsed and died. Just hours before her death, Holzman pleaded with Perry in an interview. She told her “to please stop” pursuing ownership of the home.
“It’s not doing anyone any good except hurting a lot of people,” she said, per NPR.
The surviving nuns’ feelings about Perry chilled after Holzman’s death.
“I really didn’t like Katy Perry,” Sister Rita Callanan said, per Page Six. “I’m sure she doesn’t like me.”
She added that she believes Perry has “blood on her hands” following Holzman’s death.
