PHILADELPHIA — The retrial of the only church official who has ever gone to prison in the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal was delayed Monday because of the novel coronavirus 2019 outbreak.

The retrial of Monsignor William Lynn, the longtime secretary for clergy in the Philadelphia archdiocese, was set to start Monday in Philadelphia but has been put on hold until January amid court shutdowns meant to slow the spread of the pandemic.

After an appeals court found his sweeping 2012 conspiracy trial flawed and his conviction was twice overturned, Lynn, 69, now faces only a single child endangerment count. Prosecutors contend he endangered children by transferring a known predator priest to their parish without warning in 1993.

The landmark case now looks nothing like the gut-wrenching, four-month trial that unearthed the church’s “secret archives.”

Lynn served 33 months in state prison, of an initial three- to six-year sentence. Neither of the Philadelphia cardinals he served were charged.