Don Filippo Di Giacomo, canon lawyer and Vatican expert columnist, bemoans the lack of transparency from the Vatican regarding Pope Francis' health as the pontiff sat out mass and his traditional Angelus prayer from hospital on Sunday February 16 after being admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital with bronchitis two days earlier. "This kind of silence, on one hand, protects the privacy of an 88-year-old man who, in this context, is just a patient like all the others in the hospital. But on the other hand, it somewhat stifles the expression of affection that people want to show and that is usually conveyed through communication," Di Giacomo says. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES