Catholic college dean who guarded Pope resigns after lying about degree and PhD

‘I just don’t want it to happen again ... the guy is [a] charlatan, he’s a fraudster and he’s a con artist,’ professor says

The dean of a business school at a catholic college in Houston, Texas, who previously served in the Swiss Guard in the Vatican, has been pushed out of the role after it was found that he falsified his credentials.

Mario Enzler, who met Mother Teresa and served under Pope John Paul II, has stepped down from his post at the Cameron School of Business at the University of St Thomas after facing allegations that he included multiple non-existent degrees on his resume, according to The Houston Chronicle.

Mr Enzler claimed to have received a doctorate from a university in his native Italy, which doesn’t offer the opportunity to earn a PhD. The school where he claimed to have received a Bachelor’s degree was found to be a high school. Several professors reported the discrepancies to the school in a letter sent in April.

“The University of St Thomas accepted Mario Enzler’s resignation on Friday afternoon,” spokesperson Sandra Soliz said in a statement on Tuesday, The Chronicle reported. “He is moving on to the next chapter of his life.”

Mr Enzler was appointed as the dean of the Cameron School in June 2020 even though his resume didn’t include any degrees related to the field of business.

His resume states that he was a banker for 19 years before co-founding a high school in New Hampshire alongside his wife, according to The Chronicle and the website promoting his book about his time in the Swiss Guard.

Mr Enzler claimed on his resume that he most recently was employed at the Catholic University of America’s Busch School of Business and Economics.

Members of the faculty said in their letter that Mr Enzler should never have been hired, adding that the search committee for the dean position found that he wasn’t qualified, holding a supposed PhD in music and a classics bachelor’s degree, but that he was hired anyway and employed for two years.

Associate accounting professor John Simms told The Chronicle that several professors became uncomfortable with Mr Enzler’s way of leading the school and started to look into his resume.

“This vision that I and others in the university felt we could have, was smoke,” he told the paper. “It just went up in smoke.”

Assistant accounting professor Ramon Fernandez added, “I just don’t want it to happen again ... the guy is [a] charlatan, he’s a fraudster and he’s a con artist”.

The Independent has attempted to reach Mr Enzler for comment.