Monsignor Lynn Moved From Prison Where Pope Will Visit

In this March 27, 2012 file photo, Monsignor William Lynn leaves the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

It appears Pope Francis will be spared one potentially awkward moment on his visit to Philadelphia.

Monsignor William Lynn had been serving out a three-year prison sentence at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Center — which happens to be the same facility Pope Francis is expected to visit in September. Lynn is serving time behind bars while he appeals his 2012 conviction on child endangerment charges stemming from the child sex-abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia — the first U.S. church official to be convicted in connection with the scandal that afflicted parishes throughout the country and world.

Now Lynn has been moved to a state prison, AP reports. (The move was first reported by BigTrial.net.)

The possibility that the two might meet, if inadvertently, had been raised almost as soon as the pontiff’s official itinerary was released showing Curran-Fromhold on the official agenda. (About 1,200 of the facility’s 8,000 inmates identify as Catholic.) Lynn’s lawyer said his client would welcome the experience.

“We hope he brings … a message of hope for the individuals incarcerated here,” Philadelphia Prison Commissioner Louis Giorla told AP earlier this month. “No one is so lowly that they can’t be saved or change their lives.”

Lynn, at least, will not get to hear that message in person.

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