The names of stations in the Way of the Cross may be used as titles of pictures and sculptures, each corresponding to a particular event in the Passion of Christ, or as titles of meditations. The article focuses on the second meaning, but the trends of the development of both kinds of names are similar. The study is based on material consisting of about 200 texts of the service that have been published from the beginning of the 20th century to the present (2020). The purpose of the article is to describe the changes that have taken place in the 20th century, a period of particularly turbulent changes in religious discourse. The article deals with the function, syntactic structure and features of style, such as the use of archaic or colloquial vocabulary. These properties are considered in connection with social and cultural changes. At the beginning of the analyzed period, it was customary to use relatively long titles, which informed the participant or reader about a particular event using expressive and evaluative lexis. Those titles gradually gave way to short, schematic names. Since the Second Vatican Council, titles of a new type have appeared. Their purpose is to attract the attention of the recipient. They are based on a riddle, a contrast, allusions, etc. Therefore, the recipient derives satisfaction from deciphering the puzzle or finding the source of the quote or allusion. These phenomena are known from research on the language of press or fiction, but they can also be linked to current trends in the so-called new evangelization.

For many ethicists, natural law no longer seems to be relevant as a model for the motivation of norms. At the same time, moral theology after Vatican II strives for renewal which, on the one hand, distances itself from radical autonomous thinking and, on the other hand, overcomes certain narrownesses of the past. It happens in the context of a cultural upheaval between modernity and postmodernity, in which universalistic ethical concepts are regarded critically anyway. Nevertheless, the increasing ethical challenges of the present, especially those in the bioethical field, call for universally valid solutions in the globalized world. In this context, natural law thinking can and should be used again. However, it would have to be suitably presented. An ethical understanding beyond cultural and temporal boundaries is possible, but requires an agreement on the binding character of human nature.

The primacy of the Bishop of Rome is the term for the highest office in the Church. It consists in carrying out a mission appointed to St. Peter and his successors by Christ. The truth about the primacy is a theoretical plane, dogmatically defined at the I Vatican Council in 1870. It also has a practical dimension, which depends on the individual popes and the particular historical context. A characteristic feature of the pontificate of John Paul II was the implementation of the reforms of the II Vatican Council and the Church’s preparation for the Great Jubilee of the third millennium. John Paul II realized the primacy function in accordance with the tradition of the Church, on the grounds of the biblical image of Peter the Apostle, and continuing the line of his predecessors – John XXIII and Paul VI. The leading element of his pontificate was the openness to the world, to man and his dignity, or sensitivity to the signs of the times. The priority at the level of ecclesial unity was a concern for the community at all levels, including the ecumenical field. John Paul II realized the primacy ministry as Servus servorum Dei, in the ancient formula – priority in love .