Catholic Church

He also said the Church should ask forgiveness for the way it had treated women, for turning a blind eye to child labour, and for "blessing so many weapons" in the past.

He made the comments while speaking to reporters aboard a plane taking him back to Rome from Armenia.

In the hour-long freewheeling conversation that has become a trademark of his international travels, Pope Francis was asked if he agreed with recent comments by a German Roman Catholic cardinal that the Church should apologise to gay people.

In apparently off-the-cuff remarks the 79-year-old pontiff promised to examine whether women could join the clergy at the rank of deacon, 

The pledge came in a question and answer session with members of female religious orders during a meeting at the Vatican.

In the exchanges, Pope Francis said he had discussed the use of female deacons in the early centuries of the Church with experts on the subject but was not clear as to their exact role and status.

Cardinal Soane Patita Paini Mafi of Tonga called on the men - from Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Tonga and Samoa to remember their roles as servants.

"Our Pacific people treat us (priests) as chiefs, matai or nopele and we are thankful to them for that honour," Cardinal Mafi said.

"But never forget that walking in the footsteps of Jesus we must first be servants - servants of the people and servants of God."

Islands Business reports relatives of the men travelled from across the Pacific to attend the ordination.

With Madonna already in his diocese preparing for her Saturday night gig at Vector Arena, Bishop Dunn said: "There's always a fine line, isn't there, about artistic expression and how free artists can be."

During an interview with RadioLive on Thursday, host Mark Sainsbury asked if Bishop Dunn was just being "an old fuddy-duddy".  The Bishop replied, "I don't really care, quite honestly".