Posted by Chinenye on Tue 08th Sep, 2026 - tori.ng
After years of serving as a Catholic missionary in Kenya, an Italian priest has taken a life-changing step that has captured attention in the community.
(Sandro Ferretto and Sharon Jepng'ok. Photo Credit: Tuko News)
An Italian priest has left the Church and married a Kenyan woman in a traditional ceremony in her hometown.
Sandro Ferretto, 55, wed Sharon Jepng'ok on September 6 at Seretion village in Baringo County, where Ferretto had worked as a Catholic priest for 12 years.
The couple went through a Koito ceremony, a Kalenjin customary marriage rite that involves dowry talks and family blessings.
Community elders, local leaders and Jepng'ok's friends and relatives attended the celebration.
Ferretto was ordained in Italy and came to Kenya in 2008 as a missionary, serving parishes in the Kasiela and Mochongoi areas.
He became known in the community simply as Father Sandro.
He went back to Italy in late 2020 and was leading a group of churches in the Padua diocese when he abruptly stepped down in December 2023 after his final Mass.
The diocese said at the time that he was taking a break from his duties, though he gave little notice to colleagues.
After his departure, Ferretto worked with a migrant support group before returning to Kenya, where he reconnected with Jepng'ok, whom he had met during his years working there.
Under Catholic rules, priests in the Latin Rite must remain celibate and cannot marry while serving.
A priest who wants to marry must first get approval from the Vatican through a process called laicisation, which removes his clerical status and releases him from his celibacy vow.
Without this, the Church doesn't recognize the marriage.
Neither the Padua diocese nor the Diocese of Nyahururu has commented on the wedding.
Photos and video from the ceremony show Ferretto and Jepng'ok dressed in matching orange-and-blue traditional clothing, participating in the Koito dances surrounded by celebrants.