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The reason that I started this thread was because you said that the 1949/1952 does not teach implicit faith, and this thread I hope has proven to you that it does teach it. Here is material from Fr. Fenton in his defending of the 1949/1952 letter where he teaches implicit faith and explains that the "teachings" of  are what the School of Salamanca calls the minimum "doctrines" which must be believed:

Msgr. Joseph Clifford Fenton, The Catholic Church and Salvation, 1958, p. 69: “The divine public revelation is composed of a certain number of truths or statements.  It is quite manifest that genuine and supernatural divine faith can exist and does exist in individuals who have no clear and distinct awareness  of some of these truths, but who simply accept them as they are contained or implied in other doctrines.  But, in order that faith may exist, there certainly must be some minimum of teachings which are grasped distinctly by the believer and within which theology holds that it is possible to have genuine divine faith when two, or, according to some writers, four, of these revealed truths are believed distinctly and explicitly.  There can be real divine faith when a man believes explicitly, on the authority of God revealing, the existence of God as Head of the supernatural order, the fact that God rewards good and punishes evil, and the doctrines of the Blessed Trinity and of the Incarnation.”

In his defense of 1949/1952 letter pg103-104 he says that unconscious or implicit desire can put one mysteriously inside the Church only if the person has supernatural Faith.  So, once one sees what Fenton believes is the minimum requirement for supernatural Faith, that is precisely what he thinks a person must minimally and absolutely know and believe to be “inside” the Church without being a member.

Fenton begins by correctly stating that divine Faith can exist in individuals who have no clear and distinct awareness of some truths of the Catholic Faith.  That is absolutely true: a Catholic doesn’t have to know or be aware of every Catholic teaching to have the Catholic Faith, but he cannot reject any of them.  Fenton then correctly notes that in order to have supernatural Faith, a person must distinctly grasp and know certain truths.  This is also true; there are certain mysteries of Faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect.  An adult cannot be ignorant of them and be saved.

Pope St. Pius X, Acerbo Nimis (# 2), April 15, 1905:
“And so Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: ‘We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect.’”

What are these minimum truths that an adult must know to be saved?  The Church has always taught, as the Athanasian Creed infallibly defined, that knowing the Trinity and the Incarnation is a necessity of means in order to be saved.  That is why missionaries risked everything to go and preach the Gospel to heathen in far off lands.  An adult who doesn’t know the Trinity and the Incarnation cannot be saved, for these mysteries constitute “the Catholic Faith” if broken down and defined in terms of its simplest mysteries.

Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, Sess. 8, Nov. 22, 1439, ex cathedra: “Whoever wishes to be saved, needs above all to hold the Catholic faith; unless each one preserves this whole and inviolate, he will without a doubt perish in eternity.– But the Catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in the Trinity, and the Trinity in unity; neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance; for there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit, their glory is equal, their majesty coeternal...and in this Trinity there is nothing first or later, nothing greater or less, but all three persons are coeternal and coequal with one another, so that in every respect, as has already been said above, both unity in Trinity, and Trinity in unity must be worshipped.  Therefore let him who wishes to be saved, think thus concerning the Trinity.
     “But it is necessary for eternal salvation that he faithfully believe also in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ...the Son of God is God and man... This is the Catholic faith; unless each one believes this faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.”

This is why every Doctor of the Church held that no adult could be saved without knowledge of the Trinity and the Incarnation.  It is why the St. Thomas and the Thomist who believed in baptism of desire only extended it to unbaptized catechumens who believed in the Trinity and Incarnation.

However, notice that Msgr. Fenton says:

Fenton, p. 69: “But, in order that faith may exist, there certainly must be some minimum of teachings which are grasped distinctly by the believer and within which theology holds that it is possible to have genuine divine faith when two, or, according to some writers, four, of these revealed truths are believed distinctly and explicitly.  There can be real divine faith when a man believes explicitly, on the authority of God revealing , the existence of God as Head of the supernatural order,  the fact that God rewards good and punishes evil, and the doctrines of the Blessed Trinity and of the  Incarnation.”

Fenton list four things: 1) that God is the Head of the supernatural order; 2) that God rewards good and punishes evil; 3) the Trinity; 4) the Incarnation.  
Here’s the key: while listing these four things, Fenton says that a person only has to know two of these things in order to have true supernatural Faith, and be eligible for the “implicit” desire that puts you inside the Catholic Church! That is to say, according to Msgr. Fenton, a person can have “supernatural Faith” and be inside the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church by his “implicit desire” when he only believes that 1) God exists and 2) that God rewards good and punishes evil, without knowing the Trinity and Incarnation!    .


Fenton interpreting and using the 1949/1952 letter, says it does not hold that it is necessary to know the Trinity and the Incarnation for salvation.  Fenton’s position does not exclude Jews and Muslims from salvation, for they believe in two out of the four.  Jews and Muslims believe 1) that God is the Head of the supernatural order; and 2) that God rewards good and punishes evil.  Fenton’s position is totally heretical and reduces the dogma to a meaningless formula.

Msgr. Joseph Clifford Fenton, The Catholic Church and Salvation, 1958, p. 87: “The non-members of the Church who have no explicit intention of joining or entering it can have the life of grace, but only if they are ordered or disposed toward the Church by a certain unconscious intention or desire.”

“A certain unconscious intention or desire,” Fenton teaches, as long as it is accompanied by belief in two of the four things – e.g. belief in God and that He is a rewarder and a punisher – is sufficient to put the person inside the Catholic Church (without being a member).  So, as long as the Jew or Muslim is “invincibly ignorant” and believes that God is the Head of the supernatural order and that He rewards good and punishes evil, he can be inside the Church and be saved.  The “unconscious intention” the Jew or Muslim has for the Church, even though he doesn’t believe in Our Lord, can grant him supernatural “Faith” which, when combined with his “implicit desire,” puts him inside the Catholic Church.

Therefore, both Fr. Rulleau and Fr. Fenton teach and defend the theory of implicit faith, and use the 1949/1952 letter to teach it.

I don't think it is fair to call Msgr. Fenton an adherent of "implicit faith." The reason why he says what he does, is, IMHO, because the Church has not touched the question about what doctrines must be believed in a person having implicit desire. He doesn't do anymore than just say what the Church says: one must have supernatural faith and charity to have implicit desire become efficacious. He doesn't say what he believes; he only says what Catholic theology allows to be believed. I repeat: he doesn't go into which two, since it is still an unsettled question.