Three nuns in their 80s who made headlines after fleeing their care home to take back their convent in Austria are being allowed to stay there "until further notice", church officials said Friday.

The story of runaway sisters Rita, 82, Regina, 86, and Bernadette, 88, defying the church hierarchy made headlines across the globe.

The trio ran away from the care home the Catholic Church sent them to "against their will" and broke back into their abandoned convent at Goldenstein Castle in Elsbethen near the city of Salzburg in September, with the help of supporters.

The nuns' superior, Provost Markus Grasl of Reichersberg Abbey, repeatedly insisted the nuns be placed in a Catholic care home due to their ailing health and accused them of breaking their vows of obedience.

But on Friday churc

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