diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/python/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/python/package.py
index f666d4dd4df..37d65c54c00 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/python/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/python/package.py
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ class Python(AutotoolsPackage):
     extendable = True
 
     # Variants to avoid cyclical dependencies for concretizer
-    variant('libxml2', default=False,
+    variant('libxml2', default=True,
             description='Use a gettext library build with libxml2')
 
     variant(