President Obama embraced the beatification of Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador Saturday ahead of celebrations in El Salvador over the controversial religious figure's progression toward sainthood. "I join people in El Salvador and around the world today in welcoming the beatification of Archbishop Oscar Romero," Obama said. "He fearlessly confronted the evils he saw, guided by the needs of his beloved pueblo, the poor and oppressed people of El Salvador." Romero was shot while performing Mass in 1980 just one day after imploring the country's military to abandon their orders to violently repress a leftist uprising.