CHICAGO — Who is properly deemed a Catholic nun or sister?

Courts themselves have no place answering such religious questions, a federal appeals court in Chicago ruled Wednesday in a civil dispute that involves a woman who insists she is a religious sister.

Citing the U.S. Constitution and even the Bible, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a federal court in Indianapolis that said jurors could decide if Patricia Ann Fuller is or isn’t a sister.

Fuller, who insists she remains a Catholic sister and who still goes by Sister Joseph Therese, sued Indiana attorney Kevin McCarthy for defamation because he described her as “a fake nun.”

The court did not explicitly say that Fuller could not sue McCarthy for defamation, but it sent the case back to the federal court in Indianapolis with orders that neither the judge nor jury should decide religious questions..

The Fostoria, Ohio, woman was sanctioned as a sister decades ago by the Roman Catholic Church. But one of its governing body’s later withdrew its approval and declared she is no longer a sister.