Italian Catholic Priest Sandro Ferretto Quits, Marries Kenyan Woman After Years of Missionary Work
- Sandro Ferretto, 55, a former Italian Catholic priest, married Sharon Jepng'ok from Baringo South in a traditional Kalenjin Koito ceremony
- Ferretto spent 12 years as a missionary in Baringo County, where locals knew him simply as 'Father Sandro' before he stepped away from the priesthood
- Under Catholic canon law, a priest must undergo a formal Vatican-approved laicisation process before any marriage can be considered valid by the Church
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An Italian-born Catholic priest who dedicated over a decade to missionary service in rural Kenya has stepped away from the cloth entirely, marrying a Kenyan woman in a traditional ceremony in the community where he once preached.
Sandro Ferretto, 55, wed Sharon Jepng'ok, a Tugen woman from Baringo South, on September 6, 2026, at Seretion village in Kasiela.
Source: Instagram
The ceremony followed the Koito tradition, a Kalenjin customary rite that centres on dowry negotiations and family blessings.
Community elders, local leaders, relatives, and Jepng'ok's colleagues were all present to witness the union, as reported by the Kenya Times.
From Diocese of Padua to Baringo County
Ferretto was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Padua in Italy before arriving in Kenya in 2008.
He served under the Diocese of Nyahururu, working across Kasiela and Mochongoi, and became a familiar and trusted face throughout Baringo County.
Residents knew him simply as "Father Sandro," a figure closely associated with pastoral outreach, youth programmes, and community development spanning more than a decade.
He returned to Italy in December 2020 alongside fellow missionary priest Mariano Dal Ponte.
By 2023, he was overseeing a pastoral unit in Saletto, Borgo Veneto, responsible for eight churches.
Later that year, local Italian media reported he had stepped down from the role to take a period of personal reflection.
He subsequently returned to Kenya, where he reconnected with Jepng'ok, a woman he had first met during his years of service in Baringo.
Source: Instagram
What Catholic law says about priests marrying
The couple's union has drawn considerable attention in both Kenya and Italy, partly because of how deeply embedded Ferretto had been in the Baringo community, and partly because of the canonical implications of a Catholic priest entering marriage.
Canon 277 §1 of Latin Catholic law binds priests to "perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven," describing celibacy as "a special gift of God by which sacred ministers can more easily remain close to Christ with an undivided heart."
Canon 1087 goes further, stating that those in sacred orders "invalidly attempt marriage."
For a priest to marry without violating Church law, he must first undergo laicisation, a formal Vatican-approved process that removes him from the clerical state and grants a dispensation from the obligation of celibacy.
Only once that authorisation is in place is the individual considered free to marry in a manner the Church would recognise.
Without it, any such marriage is considered contrary to canon law and carries no recognition from the Catholic Church.
Whether Ferretto completed that formal process has not been publicly confirmed.
What is clear is that, at 55, he has chosen a markedly different path from the one he began in Padua, building a new life with Jepng'ok in the Kenyan community that shaped much of his adult life.
Watch the video of Italian Catholic priest Sandro Ferretto's wedding to his Kenyan bride below:
Catholic priest defends UBA trainee in Tony Elumelu saga
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Catholic priest Fr Kelvin Ugwu defended the UBA graduate trainee who addressed billionaire Tony Elumelu by his first name during a company event.
He argued that the Western-style formal setting made her address appropriate and questioned why Elumelu accepted the same form of address from a Stanford student.
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Source: Legit.ng
