Vow = a solemn promise, pledge, or personal commitment (I will do all I can to receive Baptism)
Desire = to wish or long for; crave; want (I want to receive Baptism. I crave Baptism. I wish to receive Baptism. I long for Baptism.)
If you see a significant difference, let me know.
There is a difference. A
vow is an
intent to do something. A desire can be a mere wish to do something. Consider the following:
1) I vow to go to Disney World.
2) I desire that I could go to Disney World.
Nowhere, in
any of the Nicene and pre-Nicene Fathers, the Doctors of the Church, the Popes, and the Councils of the Church will you find anything that says that faith in Jesus Christ can be implicit and/or unconscious or that anything other than Baptism or at least the
vow for it is sufficient for eternal life.
Show me otherwise, and I will believe. Until then, I have no choice but to conclude that the 1949 letter from the Holy Office is heretical, based upon the theological novelties of Catholic liberalism that arose, not from Divine Revelation, but from the deistic philosophy of the Enlightenment.
Only Catholics will be saved. Period. All others will be damned, unless, they, "before the end of life", are joined to the Church, which is the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ.