Petar Palić was born into a Kosovo Croat Catholic family in Pristina in present-day Kosovo. His father was Anton and mother Zora nee Gucić were from Janjevo. At the time of his birth, his family lived in Hajvalia near Pristina. In 1978, his family returned to Janjevo. Palić has four younger brothers: Nikola, Zdravko, Branko and Leopold. Palić attended elementary school there from 1978 to 1986. Afterwards, he attended a seminary in Skopje from 1986 to 1988, and later in Subotica from 1988 to 1990, when he graduated. He enrolled at the Faculty of Catholic Theology, University of Zagreb in 1990 and graduated in 1995. His father died in 1994, and his mother moved with him in Zagreb, Croatia in 1995, where his brothers were also living.
Priest
Palić was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Dubrovnik in Granešina, Zagreb on 1 June 1996. His priestly motto was a sentence from Psalm 23 "Though I pass through a gloomy Valley, beside me your rod and your staff are there, to hearten me." After the ordination, Palić briefly worked as a high school catechist and later held various pastoral administrative posts in the Diocese of Dubrovnik. He was named head of the Catechetical Office of the Diocese of Dubrovnik in 1996, a position he held until 2005. At the same time, from 1995 to 2005 he was a personal secretary to the bishop of Dubrovnik. In 1999 he was appointed a director of the Institute for the Maintenance of Clergy and Other Church Officials, where he served until 2017. Bishop Želimir Puljić sent him to the Karl-Franzens University in Graz, Austria to study moral theology in 2005, where he earned a doctorate with the thesis "For the culture of life: The commitment of the Church in Croatia to the culture of life, based on the encyclical the Gospel of Life from 1995 to 2005". During his studies, bishop Egon Kapellari of the Diocese of Graz-Seckau entrusted him the parish of Dobl, where Palić served as a vicar until 2008. In 2009, the bishop of Dubrovnik allowed him to stay at the Pontifical Croatian College of St. Jerome to study the Italian language. Between 2009 and 2011 Palić served as a bishop's vicar for pastoral care, and later as a general vicar between 2011 and 2017. On 25 January 2017, he was elected secretary-general of the Episcopal Conference of Croatia.
