two nuns who are objecting to the sale of their convent to pop singer Katy Perry say that their archdiocese is betraying them. “In selling to Katy Perry, we feel we are being forced to violate our canonical vows to the Catholic Church,” Sister Catherine Rose Holzman wrote to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. They claim that another Sister was “woozy” and under the influence of morphine when she signed a statement supporting the archdiocese. ✣ An American sculptor is creating a pastoral staff for Pope Francis. Frank Seder Jr hopes the staff will be presented to the Pope when he visits Philadelphia in September. “It’s going to be beautiful, it’s going to be meaningful, it’s going to be spiritual,” he said. The staff is made from purpleheart wood from South America, reflecting Francis’s roots, with olive wood from Italy wrapped around it like a vine. ✣ Unlike his predecessors, Pope Francis will not be spending the summer at Castel Gandolfo. “He rests in his own way, but he doesn’t go on vacation,” says Fr Guillermo Karcher, pap­al master of ceremonies. “He doesn’t understand the concept of vacation. And he sympathises with many people, especially these days, who can’t go on holiday.”