Rev. Joseph Lowery Hospitalized in Atlanta

The Rev. Joseph Lowery was taken to a hospital in Atlanta over the weekend after sustaining a blood clot in his lung, officials reported Wednesday.

Since then, the condition of the civil rights icon has been steadily improving, according to a statement made by a spokesman for Emory University Hospital Midtown.

Lowery "continues to rest comfortably in stable condition," the statement added.

A timeline on when the 88-year-old preacher will leave the hospital, however, is not yet available.

Though Lowery is officially retired from preaching, the United Methodist minister is still a sought after speaker and last year gave the benediction at the inauguration of President Obama.

In his younger days, Lowery helped lead the Montgomery bus boycott, headed the Alabama Civic Affairs Association, led the Selma to Montgomery march in 1965, and co-founded groups including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Black Leadership Forum.

Decades later, Lowery still remains active in the civil rights movement and advocates for racial justice, human rights, and world peace.

When Ebony Magazine named him one of the nation's 15 greatest black preachers, they described him as "the consummate voice of biblical social relevancy, a focused prophetic voice, speaking truth to power."

And when Lowery was awarded last year with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Obama described him as "a giant of the Moses generation of civil rights leaders."

He turns 89 in October.