diff --git a/LibTrixi.jl/Project.toml b/LibTrixi.jl/Project.toml
index a437c8ef..bc68f253 100644
--- a/LibTrixi.jl/Project.toml
+++ b/LibTrixi.jl/Project.toml
@@ -6,9 +6,11 @@ version = "0.1.0"
 [deps]
 OrdinaryDiffEq = "1dea7af3-3e70-54e6-95c3-0bf5283fa5ed"
 Trixi = "a7f1ee26-1774-49b1-8366-f1abc58fbfcb"
+MPI = "da04e1cc-30fd-572f-bb4f-1f8673147195"
 
 [compat]
 julia = "1.8"
+MPI = "0.20.13"
 OrdinaryDiffEq = "6.53.2"
 Trixi = "0.5.29"
 
diff --git a/LibTrixi.jl/src/LibTrixi.jl b/LibTrixi.jl/src/LibTrixi.jl
index ade28539..434a549e 100644
--- a/LibTrixi.jl/src/LibTrixi.jl
+++ b/LibTrixi.jl/src/LibTrixi.jl
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ module LibTrixi
 
 using OrdinaryDiffEq: OrdinaryDiffEq, step!, check_error, DiscreteCallback
 using Trixi: Trixi, summary_callback
+using MPI: MPI, run_init_hooks, set_default_error_handler_return
 
 export trixi_initialize_simulation,
        trixi_initialize_simulation_cfptr,
@@ -38,4 +39,15 @@ function show_debug_output()
     end
 end
 
+function __init__()
+    # MPI could have been initialized by an external application.
+    # In this situation MPI.jl's MPI.Init is not called and leaves some package-internal
+    # settings uninitialized. Recover those here.
+    MPI.run_init_hooks()
+    # Also make sure MPI returns errors, at least in debug mode
+    if show_debug_output()
+        MPI.set_default_error_handler_return()
+    end
+end
+
 end # module LibTrixi
diff --git a/src/trixi.c b/src/trixi.c
index 796c2e9a..3743aade 100644
--- a/src/trixi.c
+++ b/src/trixi.c
@@ -111,18 +111,6 @@ void trixi_initialize(const char * project_directory, const char * depot_path) {
         print_and_die("null pointer", LOC);
       }
     }
-
-    // TODO: Workaround for issue with MPI.jl: A required MPI key value is not initialized
-    //       in case MPI has already been initialized before. With libtrixi MPI could have
-    //       been initialized by an external application. Check if MPI is initialized but
-    //       the key value not. In this case run the init hooks manually.
-    //       This would better be fixed using some functionality of MPI.jl
-    const char * call_MPI_run_init_hook =
-      "using MPI;\n"
-      "if MPI.Initialized() && MPI.JULIA_TYPE_PTR_ATTR[]==0;\n"
-      "  MPI.run_init_hooks();\n"
-      "end\n";
-    checked_eval_string(call_MPI_run_init_hook, LOC);
 }