An Italian Catholic priest has left the priesthood and married a Kenyan woman in a traditional ceremony in Baringo County, Kenya.
Fifty-five-year-old Sandro Ferretto married Sharon Jepng’ok on September 6 in Seretion village, in the same 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 dowry negotiations and family blessings.
Ferretto was ordained in Italy and began missionary work in Kenya in 2008, serving communities in Baringo.
He returned to Italy in 2020 but stepped down from his pastoral post in 2023.
The Diocese of Padua confirmed his departure at the time, saying he remained a priest and was not involved in any controversy.
He later returned to Kenya and reunited with Jepng’ok, whom he had met during his missionary years.
Under Catholic canon law, Latin-rite priests are bound to celibacy and cannot marry while remaining in active ministry. A priest wishing to marry must obtain laicisation, a Vatican-approved process that removes his clerical status and normally includes a dispensation from the obligation of celibacy.
Neither the Diocese of Padua nor the Diocese of Nyahururu has publicly commented on the marriage.
