Dražen Kutleša was born on 25 September 1968 in Duvno in the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Yugoslavia to father Krešo and mother Danica nee Ćurić. He lived with his parents and brother Grgur in Prisoje, a village in the Tomislavgrad municipality. He attended elementary school in Prisoje from 1975 to 1983 and was accepted into a seminary by bishop Pavao Žanić. He was then sent to the Gymnasium "Ruđer Bošković" in Dubrovnik, which he attended from 1983 to 1987. He graduated in June 1987. Dražen Kutleša studied philosophy and theology in at the Vrhbosna High School of Theology in Sarajevo from 1987 to 1993. He graduated with thesis "Od konstitucije "Romanos Pontifices" do dekreta "Romanis Pontificibus" " to the decree of "Romanis Pontificibus" ) under mentorship of then theology professor Ratko Perić. His graduate thesis was published on 16 June 1994. In 1995 he was sent to study canon law at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome and was sponsored by the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. He gained master's degree with thesis "I rapporti tra il Vescovo diocesano e i Religiosi nell'attività apostolica della Diocesi secondo il C.I.C. ".
Priesthood
Dražen Kutleša was ordained deacon in Bol, on 13 March 1993 by bishop Pavao Žanić, who also ordained him a priest for the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno, in his native Prisoje, on 29 June 1993. Rev. Kutleša was then, for two years, parish vicar at the Mostar Cathedral. In 1995 he went to Rome to study Canon law at Pontifical Urbaniana University, and obtained Master's degree in 1997 with thesis I rapporti tra il Vescovo diocesano e i Religiosi nell'attività apostolica della Diocesi secondo il C.I.C. . He obtained doctorate in Canon law, at the same University, in 2001, with thesis 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. In the years 1998-2006 he had the following assignments: Parish Administrator of Grude, docent of Canon law at the Theological institute of Mostar, vice-chancellor of the Diocesan Curia of Mostar-Duvno, member of the College of consultors and of the Presbyterial council, member of the Iustitia et pax Council of the Episcopal conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2006 Kutleša was named official of the Congregation for Bishops in Rome. Since 2011 he was also collaborator at the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. On 13 May 2011, he was named Chaplain of His Holiness, with the title of monisgnor.
