Canon 511 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law speaks about "diocesan" pastoral councils: "In each diocese, to the extent that pastoral circumstances recommend it, a pastoral council is to be established whose responsibility it is to investigate under the authority of the bishop all those things which pertain to pastoral works, to ponder them and to propose practical conclusions about them." This reflects the threefold purpose of the pastoral council as first described in the Vatican II "Decree on Bishops" at paragraph 27.