Three elderly nuns who fled from a retirement home in Austria to return to their abandoned convent have been told they can stay in the nunnery – as long as they stay off social media. The conditions also call for them to dismiss their lawyers and legal experts.

However, the sisters, 88 year old Bernadette, 86 year old Regina and Rita who is 82, have refused to sign the agreement with the Roman Catholic authorities, because they say it would deprive the public of knowing their situation. They currently have around 100,000 followers on Instagram.

The row between the sisters and the church began in 2023 after the Goldstein Castle convent near Salzburg was closed and they were moved into a retirement home. They returned to the convent in September and have documented their daily life on social media. The church wants them to return to the care home because of their health and Provost Markus Grasl of Reichersberg Abbey has accused them of breaking their vows of obedience.

Church officials also said that while the sisters would be provided medical care as well as spiritual support, they would be moved to a care home if their health worsens.

Reinhard Bruzek, the nuns’ lawyer, told regional news blog InfoMediaWorx that the proposal was a “gag order.”

Sister Bernadette told the Salzburger Nachrichten that they were rejecting the proposal because “we were promised that we could stay here until the end of our lives. The provost has broken that promise, and that has to be said.”