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BARINGO COUNTY, KENYA, September 7, 2026 — An Italian-born Catholic priest who spent over a decade as a missionary in Kenya’s Baringo County has left the priesthood and married a Kenyan woman he met during his years of pastoral service, in a traditional ceremony that has drawn widespread attention in both Kenya and Italy.

Sandro Ferretto, 55, wed Sharon Jepng’ok, a Tugen woman from Baringo South and daughter of former councillor John Wendot, on September 6 at Seretion Village in Kasiela — the same community where Ferretto once served as parish priest. The couple held a Koito ceremony, the Kalenjin customary rite centred on dowry negotiation and family blessing, attended by relatives, community elders, local leaders, and Jepng’ok’s colleagues, according to The Kenyan Times.

From the Diocese of Padua to Baringo

Ferretto was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Padua in Italy before travelling to Kenya in 2008 to begin missionary work. He served under the Diocese of Nyahururu across two parishes — Kasiela and Mochongoi — becoming, according to Legit.ng, a familiar and trusted figure throughout Baringo County through pastoral work, youth programmes, and community development initiatives. It was during this period that he met Jepng’ok.

Ferretto returned to Italy in December 2020 alongside fellow missionary priest Mariano Dal Ponte. By 2023, he had taken charge of a pastoral unit in Saletto, Borgo Veneto, overseeing eight churches, before stepping down from that role, according to reporting by eelive. He resigned from the priesthood that year and later returned to Kenya, where he reunited with Jepng’ok.

A Canonically Unusual Union

Under Latin Catholic canon law, priests are bound to celibacy and are prohibited from marrying while remaining in active ministry. Ferretto’s marriage has drawn attention in both countries precisely because of that tension — a priest who spent over a decade as a trusted community fixture in Baringo choosing to leave the priesthood to build a family with a woman from that same community. Whether Ferretto has completed the formal canonical process of laicisation — the Church’s procedure for returning a priest to lay status — has not been publicly confirmed.

Video of Ferretto dancing with his new wife at the wedding has circulated widely on social media in Kenya, with commentary largely focused on the unusual arc of his life: from celibate missionary priest to married member of the Tugen community he once served.

Neither Ferretto, Jepng’ok, nor representatives of the Diocese of Nyahururu or the Diocese of Padua had issued a public statement addressing the marriage’s canonical status as of this report.