Dražen Kutleša

Dražen Kutleša was born in Duvno (present-day Tomislavgrad) in Herzegovina in a Croatian Catholic family, to father Krešo and mother Danica nee Ćurić, who live in Prisoje. He has a brother Grgo who lives with his family in Split, Croatia.[1]

Kutleša attended an eight-year elementary school in Prisoje from 1975 to 1983. Bishop Pavao Žanić of Mostar-Duvno received him in the seminary and sent him to the humanistic grammar school "Ruđer Bošković" in Dubrovnik, where he studied from 1983 to 1987, graduating in June 1987.[1]

Kutleša continued his path to the priesthood in the seminary studying philosophy and theology in Sarajevo from 1987 to 1993, attending the last year of his studies in Bol. At the same, from the Vrhbosna Theological College, which was then annexed to the Catholic Theological Faculty in Zagreb, he graduated with the thesis "From the constitution 'Romanos Pontifices' (1881) to the decree 'Romanis Pontificibus' (1975)" with the then professor of theology, the later bishop in Mostar-Duvno, Msgr. Ratko Perić. His diploma was issued on 16 June 1994.[1]

After going through the preparatory and educational phases in the small and large seminary, Kutleša was ordained a deacon by Bishop Pavao Žanić on 13 March 1993 in Bol, and on 29 June 1993, he was ordained a priest in Prisoje. He took the biblical words "Lord my God, with all my heart I will glorify your name forever" (Ps 86:12) as his motto. He celebrated his first Mass in Prisoje on 15 July 1993. Kutleša performed a two-year chaplaincy service in the Cathedral Parish of Mary Mother of the Church in Mostar and also taught religious education at Gimnazija Mostar from 1993 to 1995.[1]

He was sent in 1995 to study canon law in Rome at the Pontifical Urban University, with a scholarship from the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith and a stay at the Missionary Pontifical Institute of St. Peter the Apostle. He obtained his master's degree in canon law on 23 June 1997 with the thesis: "I rapporti tra il Vescovo diocesano e i Religiosi nell'attività apostolica della Diocesi secondo il C.I.C. (cann. 678-683)" (Relations between the diocesan bishop and the monks in the apostolic activity of the Diocese according to the Code of Canon Law (can. 678-683)). In the academic year of 1996/97, he attended a course and passed the exams of administrative practice at the Congregation for the Clergy.[1]

After completing his studies in Rome, he was appointed Vice-Chancellor in 1998 at the Episcopal Ordinariate and Personal Secretary to the Bishops in 2000. At the same time, as parish administrator, he dealt with administrative issues related to the parish of Grude, which was usurped by three Franciscans dismissed from the Order and suspended from priestly activity.[1]

He attended and passed in the academic year of 1997/98 subjects required for enrollment in a doctorate in canon law. He has mostly worked on his dissertation in Mostar as a clerk at the Episcopal Ordinariate since 1998. He defended his doctoral thesis at the Faculty of Canon Law, Pontifical Urban University, on 18 June 2001. His moderator was prof. Vittorio Pio Pinto, later a judge at the Roman Rota. In 2003 he published in Mostar a part of his thesis in Italian: "Il Triangolo: i Frati Francescani OFM, il Vescovo diocesano e il Clero diocesano nella Diocesi di Mostar-Duvno dal 1881 al 1975 alla luce dei cinque più importanti documenti" (The triangle: Minor Franciscan Brothers, Diocesan Bishop and Diocesan Clergy in the Mostar-Duvano Diocese from 1881 to 1975 in the light of the five most important documents).[1]

Afterwards, Kutleša was a professor of law at the Theological Institute in Mostar from 2003 to 2006.[1]

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Congregation for Bishops, asked the Bishop of Mostar for Fr. Dražen Kutleša's service in the same Congregation of the Holy See. The Bishop placed it at the disposal of the Congregation, where he was received on 1 April 2006.[1]

Since February 2011, he has also been an associate of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in cases of granting pardons from hard and unfulfilled marriages.[1]

On 13 May 2011, Pope Francis awarded him the title of Monsignor.[1]

On 17 October 2011, Pope Benedict XVI named Mons. Kutleša coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Poreč and Pula in Croatia.[2] He was consecrated on 10 December 2011 by Marc Ouellet, while the co-consecrators were Ivan Milovan and Ratko Perić.[3] On 14 June 2012 his predecessor Ivan Milovan retired and he succeed to the see.