At what point in history did Catholic priests begin to be called pastors? I have recently, within the last year or so, begun to notice the sometimes reference to Catholic Pastors.  I assume that this term is in reference to Priests.  I grew up Catholic and attended Catholic school, in 18 years, never heard the term Pastor within that context.
Is the term Pastor within the Catholic church synonymous with Priest and, if so, is it's usage recent, regional, or did I just not notice for 18 years?
Answers to this question, Are Roman Catholic priests ever addressed as pastor, seem to indicate that this usage is limited to the US only.  Does this mean that it's usage within Catholicism is less than 300 years old?
In Catholicism a pastor is a priest who has the care of a particular parish (cf. Canon 515).
The New Testament word that Catholics believe refers to the lower clergy is πρεσβύτερος (presbuteros).  The etymology of the English word &quot;priest&quot; traces to presbuteros.  The New Testament does not refer to Christian leaders as sacerdotal priests (ἱερεύς - hierieus), but only as presbyters.  &quot;Pastor&quot; as a shepherding metaphor was probably present from the beginning, given that the shepherding metaphor was there from the beginning (e.g. John 21:15-17, Ephesians 4:11, 1 Peter 5:1).
Obviously some Christians disown a sacerdotal priesthood, and therefore prefer &quot;pastor&quot; or &quot;minister&quot; rather than &quot;priest&quot;.  For this reason there is a common notion that pastors and priests are two different things.  Yet for Catholics the technical name of the priest who has charge of a parish is the &quot;pastor&quot;.
See also Pastor (Wikipedia) and Presbyter (Wikipedia).