Cardinal Edward Michael Egan, who served as the Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York from 2000 to 2009, died of cardiac arrest at NYU's Langone Medical Center this afternoon. He was 82.

In a deposition released Monday, Archbishop Robert J. Carlson claimed he's not sure if he knew having sex with a child was a crime in the 1980s when he was the auxiliary bishop of Minneapolis and St. Paul. "I understand today it's a crime," he said.

Pope Francis, addressing diplomats in the Vatican's annual "State of the World" remarks, denounced abortion as "horrific," "frightful," and "a symptom of throwaway culture." BBC News speculates that conservative clergy in Rome had been clamoring behind the scenes for such a condemnation since Pope Francis' election in March.

France, hotbed of infidelity, has taken one step closer to allowing same-sex couples the privilege of having extra-marital affairs. This morning, the National Assembly, which is the lower house of France's parliament (it is much like our Congress, but different in that it appears they vote on things), voted 249 to 97 in favor of gay marriage.