The appointment was announced Oct. 18 in Washington by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Archbishop Tobin, 60, succeeds Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, who resigned in September 2011 at age 73 for health reasons.

Auxiliary Bishop Christopher J. Coyne has been serving as apostolic administrator of the archdiocese.

A native of Detroit, Archbishop Tobin is a member of the Redemptorist congregation. He has been secretary of the Vatican congregation since October 2010.

Born in Detroit in 1952, Archbishop Tobin was the oldest of 13 children. He was baptized at and attended Holy Redeemer Church, which was then a Redemptorist parish.

He entered the Redemptorist minor seminary in the autumn of 1966, and the order’s novitiate in July 1972, making his first profession Aug. 5, 1973.

He completed his philosophy studies at Holy Redeemer College, Waterford, Wis., and his theology studies at Mount. St. Alphonsus Seminary in Esopus, N.Y., earning master’s degrees in religious education and divinity.

He made his perpetual profession Aug. 21, 1976 and was ordained to the priesthood June 1, 1978.

From 1979 to 1990 he served first as associate pastor and then later as pastor of Holy Redeemer Parish. He also served the Archbishop of Detroit as an episcopal vicar and judge in the archdiocesan Metropolitan Tribunal.

In 1990 he was named pastor of St. Alphonsus Parish in Chicago. Both in Detroit and Chicago, his assignments included extensive ministry to Spanish-speaking people.

In 1991 he was elected by the Redemptorists’ 21st general chapter in Itaici, Brazil to serve as a general consultor to then-Superior General Fr. Juan Manual Lasso de la Vega, and transferred to Rome.

In 1997 the order’s 22nd general chapter meeting in West End, N.J., elected then-Father Tobin superior general and re-elected by the 23rd general chapter in 2003 held in Rome. During his service as superior general, the Union of Superiors General  twice elected Fr. Tobin as its vice president. He was also selected to be a member of five synods of bishops, in 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005 and 2008.

In June 2010, the Holy Father asked Fr. Tobin to be one of two apostolic visitors for religious orders of men in Ireland to assist the Irish Church in the wake of the sex abuse scandals. That meant being named an archbishop and serving in the Congregatio pro Institutis Vitae Consecratae et Societatibus Vitae Apostolicae — the congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for everything that concerns institutes of consecrated life (orders and religious congregations, both of men and of women, secular institutes) and societies of apòstolic life regarding their government, discipline, studies, goods, rights and privileges.

Archbishop Tobin has been serving in the post until this most recent assignment.

Catholic News Service contributed to this report.