[2][3] In 1205, Pope Innocent III named him his legate to the Emperor Baldwin I of Constantinople, who died in April.
[6] He was charged with making sure that the Venetian-born Latin patriarch, Thomas Morosini, did not overly favour Venetians with benefices.
[8] Benedict tried to retain in the east the army that had come on the Fourth Crusade to defend the nascent Latin Empire.
[2] He granted the monastery of Hosios Loukas and the church of Hagios Demetrios to the canons of the Holy Sepulchre, not without controversy.
Although Benedict did not interfere with Byzantine rites and showed tolerance to the Greek church, reunion was not forthcoming.