I hold to the majority opinion that explicit faith is required, but the minority opinion is not condemned.
The minority opinion during the time of St. Alphonsus, is now the majority opinion, for like 99% of Catholics. That is the problem, and not the restrictive theory of explicit desire to be a Catholic, nor the even more restrictive theory of baptism of blood.
You have a big hole in both theories though, for in both cases those persons are not part of the Body of the Church, they are objectively outside of the Church, and therefore the proponents are forced to create a metaphorical "Catholic Church" to which they belong, in order to get around EENS.
In the case of Implicit Faith, they have the faith only by a metaphor, and they are in some metaphorical "Catholic Church".
You expect me to believe metaphors, and to disregard clear dogmas like this:
Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, Cantate Domino, 1441, ex cathedra:
The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that
all those who are outside the Catholic Church , not only pagans but also Jєωs or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels,
unless they are joined to the Church before the end of their lives; that the unity of
this ecclesiastical body is of such importance that only those who abide in it do the Church's sacraments contribute to salvation and do fasts, almsgiving and other works of piety and practices of the Christian militia productive of eternal rewards; and that
nobody can be saved, no matter how much he has given away in alms and
even if he has shed blood in the name of Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.
Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council, Constitution 1, 1215, ex cathedra: “There is indeed one universal Church
of the faithful, outside of which
nobody at all is saved, …
Pope Leo X, Fifth Lateran Council, Session 11, Dec. 19, 1516, ex cathedra:
“For, regulars and seculars, prelates and subjects, exempt and non-exempt, belong to the one universal Church, outside of which
no one at all is saved, and they all have one Lord and one faith.”
Council of Trent. Seventh Session. March, 1547. Decree on the Sacraments.
On Baptism
Canon 2.
If anyone shall say that real and natural water is not necessary for baptism, and on that account those words of our Lord Jesus Christ: "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5), are distorted into some metaphor:
let him be anathema.
Canon 5. If any one saith, that
baptism is optional, that is, not necessary unto salvation; let him be anathemaPope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis (# 22), June 29, 1943:
“Actually only those are to be numbered among the members of the Church who have received the laver of regeneration and profess the true faith.”
Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei (# 43), Nov. 20, 1947: “In the same
way, actually that baptism is the distinctive mark of all
Christians, and
serves to differentiate them from those who have not been cleansed in this purifying stream and
consequently are not members of Christ, the sacrament of holy
orders sets the priest apart from the rest of the faithful who
have not received this consecration.”