RismadarVoice Reporters
September 8, 2026
An Italian Catholic priest, Sandro Ferretto, 55, has left active priestly ministry and married a Kenyan woman, Sharon Jepng’ok, in a traditional ceremony in Baringo County, Kenya.
Ferretto and Jepng’ok were married on September 6 at Seretion village in Kasiela, the same community where the Italian served as a Catholic parish priest for 12 years.
The couple reportedly went through a Koito ceremony, a traditional Kalenjin marriage rite involving dowry negotiations, family blessings and other customary procedures.
Family members, community elders, local leaders and some of Jepng’ok’s colleagues were said to have attended the ceremony.
Ferretto was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Padua, Italy, before beginning missionary work in Kenya in 2008. He served in the Kasiela and Mochongoi areas under the Diocese of Nyahururu.
During his years of missionary service, he became popularly known in the community as “Father Sandro.”
He returned to Italy in December 2020 and, by 2023, was overseeing a pastoral unit comprising eight churches in Saletto, Borgo Veneto, under the Diocese of Padua.
In December 2023, Italian newspaper Il Gazzettino reported that Ferretto had unexpectedly stepped down from his pastoral position after celebrating his final Mass, reportedly giving his colleagues little advance notice.
The Diocese of Padua later confirmed his departure, saying he “remains a priest and is not involved in any controversy” and describing the decision as a requested break from pastoral responsibilities.
Ferretto was subsequently reported to have returned to Kenya, where he reunited with Jepng’ok, whom he had met during his missionary years in Baringo.
Under Catholic canon law, priests of the Latin Rite are required to observe celibacy and cannot marry while remaining in active ministry.
A priest who wishes to marry is generally required to undergo laicisation, a process approved by the Vatican that removes his clerical status and ordinarily includes a dispensation from the obligation of celibacy.
Neither the Diocese of Padua nor the Diocese of Nyahururu has publicly commented on Ferretto’s marriage.
Photographs and videos from the ceremony show Ferretto and Jepng’ok wearing matching orange-and-blue traditional outfits, including beaded garments, as they participated in the Koito dance rites at Seretion village.
