Coutts was born in Amritsar, British India on 21 July 1945. He received his religious training at the Christ the King seminary in Karachi and was ordained a priest in Lahore, Pakistan, on 9 January 1971. After ordination, he completed ecclesiastical studies in Rome from 1973 to 1976 and then became professor of philosophy and sociology at Christ the King Regional Seminary, Karachi, rector of St. Mary's Minor Seminary, Lahore, and diocesan vicar general from 1986 to 1988. On 5 May 1988 he was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Hyderabad in Pakistan by Pope John Paul II and consecrated a bishop on 16 September. He chose as his episcopal motto the wordHarmony. He became Bishop of Hyderabad on 1 September 1990. On 27 June 1998 he was appointed Bishop of Faisalabad. Coutts is the longtime Chairman of Caritas Pakistan and directed its earthquake relief efforts in 2005. In Faisalabad he developed ties with Muslim scholars and clerics. The Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany, awarded Bishop Coutts the 2007 Shalom Prize for his commitment to interfaith dialogue in Pakistan. For 25 years, the award has been given to people and projects working for human rights. On 25 January 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Coutts as Archbishop of Karachi to succeed Archbishop Evarist Pinto. Anticipating his return to the city where he had studied and taught, he stressed the challenges posed by the city's refugee-driven population explosion and the "sporadic bursts of violence and terrorism" that had become a feature of life in Karachi. In both Faisalabad and Karachi, he has campaigned against Pakistan's blasphemy law, which he believes is too easily manipulated for personal attacks or to target religious minorities for insubstantial or pretended offenses. In Karachi he has established multiple connections for inter-religious dialog between Muslims and Catholics, aiming at both acceptance by the general population and increased understanding on the part of political and religious leaders. Coutts was hospitalized with pneumonia and unable to travel to Rome to receive his pallium, the symbol of his status as a metropolitan archbishop, from Pope Benedict in June 2012. He was president of the Pakistan Catholic Bishops' Conference from 2011 to 2017. Pope Francis created Coutts a cardinal priest in the consistory of 28 June 2018, assigning him the titular church of San Bonaventura da Bagnoregio.
