diff --git a/acinclude.m4 b/acinclude.m4
index 92ec3985..b3fccf1d 100644
--- a/acinclude.m4
+++ b/acinclude.m4
@@ -40,8 +40,8 @@ AC_DEFUN([JH_CHECK_XML_CATALOG],
 [
   AC_REQUIRE([JH_PATH_XML_CATALOG],[JH_PATH_XML_CATALOG(,[:])])dnl
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([for ifelse([$2],,[$1],[$2]) in XML catalog])
-  if $jh_found_xmlcatalog && \
-     AC_RUN_LOG([$XMLCATALOG --noout "$XML_CATALOG_FILE" "$1" >&2]); then
+  # empty argument forces libxml to use XML_CATALOG_FILES variable
+  if AC_RUN_LOG([$XMLCATALOG --noout "" "$1" >&2]); then
     AC_MSG_RESULT([found])
     ifelse([$3],,,[$3
 ])dnl