Sandro Ferretto, a 55-year-old Italian Catholic priest, has left the priesthood to marry Sharon Jepng’ok, a Kenyan woman from Baringo South, in a traditional ceremony held in Kenya.
The couple wed on September 6 at Seretion village, Kasiela, in Baringo County — the same community where Ferretto once served as a Catholic parish priest for 12 years.
Their union was sealed through a Koito ceremony, a customary Kalenjin rite involving dowry negotiations and family blessings. Relatives, community elders, local leaders and Jepng’ok’s colleagues were reportedly among those in attendance.
Ferretto was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Padua, Italy, and began missionary work in Kenya in 2008, serving the Kasiela and Mochongoi areas under the Diocese of Nyahururu. He became widely known in the community as “Father Sandro.”
He returned to Italy in December 2020 and, by 2023, was heading a pastoral unit of eight churches in Saletto, Borgo Veneto, still within the Diocese of Padua.
In December 2023, however, he abruptly stepped down from the post after a final Mass, giving colleagues little notice. The Diocese of Padua later confirmed his exit, stating that he remained a priest and was not entangled in any controversy, describing his departure as a requested pause from pastoral duties.
Ferretto is said to have subsequently returned to Kenya, where he reconnected with Jepng’ok, whom he had first met during his years as a missionary in Baringo.
Under Catholic canon law, priests of the Latin Rite are required to observe celibacy and are barred from marrying while in active ministry. To marry, a priest must first undergo laicisation — a Vatican-approved process that strips clerical status and typically includes a dispensation from the celibacy vow.
Neither the Diocese of Padua nor the Diocese of Nyahururu has issued an official statement regarding the marriage.
Photos and videos from the ceremony show Ferretto and Jepng’ok dressed in matching orange-and-blue traditional attire with beaded regalia as they took part in the Koito dance rites at Seretion village.
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