Sharon Adurokiya, Reporting
AN Italian Catholic priest has left the priesthood to marry a Kenyan woman in a traditional ceremony in Baringo County, marking an extraordinary end to nearly two decades of missionary work in East Africa.
Sandro Ferretto, 55, wed Sharon Jepng’ok, a Tugen woman from Baringo South, on 6th September at Seretion village, Kasiela – the very area where he served as a Catholic parish priest for 12 years.
The couple were joined through a Koito ceremony, a Kalenjin customary rite involving pride price negotiation and family blessings. Relatives, community elders, local leaders and Jepng’ok’s colleagues reportedly attended the event.
From Priesthood to Marriage
Ferretto was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Padua in Italy and began missionary work in Kenya in 2008, serving the Kasiela and Mochongoi areas under the Diocese of Nyahururu. He was widely known in the community simply as “Father Sandro”.
He returned to Italy in December 2020 and, by 2023, was leading a pastoral unit of eight churches in Saletto, Borgo Veneto, in the Padua diocese.
However, in December 2023, Italian newspaper Il Gazzettino reported that Ferretto had abruptly stepped down from that post after a final Mass, giving little notice to his colleagues.
The Diocese of Padua, confirming his exit at the time, said Ferretto “remains a priest and is not involved in any controversy,” describing the move only as a requested pause from pastoral duties.
He was said to be volunteering with a Padua-based migrant support group during that period before later returning to Kenya, where he reunited with Jepng’ok – a woman he had met during his years as a missionary in Baringo.
Church Law and Celibacy
Under Catholic canon law, priests of the Latin Rite are bound to celibacy and may not marry while remaining in active ministry.
A priest wishing to marry must first obtain laicisation – a Vatican-approved process that removes clerical status and typically includes a dispensation from the celibacy vow. Without it, a priest’s marriage is not recognised by the Church.
Neither the Diocese of Padua nor the Diocese of Nyahururu has issued a statement on the marriage at the time of this report.
Traditional Ceremony Captures Attention
Photos and video circulating from the ceremony, verified via Kenyan entertainment site Bana Media, show Ferretto and Jepng’ok dressed in matching orange-and-blue traditional attire with beaded gowns, taking part fully in the Koito dance rites before a crowd of well-wishers at Seretion village.
The ceremony represents a remarkable turn for a man who spent more than a decade serving as a Catholic priest in the very community where he has now chosen to marry and build a new life.
