Really, I could think of 1000 better things to do than for the Vatican to investigate the Knights of Malta.  What is the best, appropriate metaphor for this shameful spectacle?

"Off with their heads!" - the Queen of Hearts from 'Alice in Wonderland'?

"Tempest in a teapot" - from 18th century England?

"Noisy gong and clanging cymbal" - 1 Corinthians?

My favorite historical allusion is the cohort of squabbling and scheming eunuchs who ran the imperial court inside the Forbidden City as China outside descended into a colonial hell of exploitation at the end of the 18th century.

Now at least, we have irrefutable proof that the Vatican curia has way too much time on their hands ...

BTW, Burke should be sent to one of those empty Carthusian monasteries in Italy to live out his days in solitude where he won't be a daily embarrassment for the church.  Let him keep his dress-up cardinal clothes - it's all he lives for ...