Just the preference of the translator. "Presbyter" is an acceptable translation. Indeed, this is the word that is used in Latin. "Priest", the word that is used in the Douay-Rheims Bible, is just the English rendering of the Latin presbyter. Whatever you call this particular office, priest/presbyter/elder, it continues to exist in the Catholic Church and not among the Protestants.
Hello Petrosius,
Consider the main duties that a Priest has in scripture. He is able to offer sacrifices and is able to enter into the Holy of Holies.
The reason most non-Catholic churches do not have this specific office, is that through Christ we have all become priests.
As you come to him, the living Stone- rejected by men but chosen by God, and precious to him- you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Pet 2:4-5)
Each of us can offer sacrifices to God, each of us can come before His presence rightious, not because we are rightious, but because of Christ’s perfect sacrifice. We need no mediator between God and man, because Christ has become our High Priest and fulfills this role perfectly.
When Jesus died, the curtain of the temple, beyond which only certain priests could go, was torn in two (Mt 27:51). Each of us can now go into God’s presence, through Christ.
The existence of a priestly class which stands between men and God is one of the traditional critiques of the Catholic church for this reason.