 When the Byzantines reconquered Constantinople in 1261 under Michael VIII Palaiologos, the Papacy suffered a loss of prestige and endured severe damage to its spiritual authority.For 57 years, Constantinople had been under Catholic rule through the Latin Empire and now the easterners had once more asserted their right not only to the position of Roman emperor but also to a church independent of the one centered in Rome.The Popes in the immediate aftermath of the Latin Empire's fall pursued a policy of attempting to assert their religious authority over the Byzantine Empire.