diff --git a/ompi/runtime/mpiruntime.h b/ompi/runtime/mpiruntime.h
index 574720b1bb..9ff569fb25 100644
--- a/ompi/runtime/mpiruntime.h
+++ b/ompi/runtime/mpiruntime.h
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
  *                         reserved. 
  * Copyright (c) 2008      Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All rights reserved.
  * Copyright (c) 2009      University of Houston.  All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2014      Intel, Inc. All rights reserved.
  * $COPYRIGHT$
  * 
  * Additional copyrights may follow
@@ -52,6 +53,8 @@ OMPI_DECLSPEC extern bool ompi_mpi_init_started;
 OMPI_DECLSPEC extern bool ompi_mpi_initialized;
 /** Has mpi been finalized? */
 OMPI_DECLSPEC extern bool ompi_mpi_finalized;
+/** Has the RTE been initialized? */
+OMPI_DECLSPEC extern bool ompi_rte_initialized;
 
 /** Do we have multiple threads? */
 OMPI_DECLSPEC extern bool ompi_mpi_thread_multiple;
diff --git a/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_abort.c b/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_abort.c
index 6fc91d1952..9e15ade931 100644
--- a/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_abort.c
+++ b/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_abort.c
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ ompi_mpi_abort(struct ompi_communicator_t* comm,
        initialized period of time, so no need to check that here.
        Sorry, Charlie... */
 
-    if (!ompi_mpi_initialized || ompi_mpi_finalized) {
+    if ((!ompi_mpi_initialized || ompi_mpi_finalized) && !ompi_rte_initialized) {
         fprintf(stderr, "[%s:%d] Local abort %s completed successfully; not able to aggregate error messages, and not able to guarantee that all other processes were killed!\n",
                 host, (int) pid, ompi_mpi_finalized ? 
                 "after MPI_FINALIZE" : "before MPI_INIT");
diff --git a/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_finalize.c b/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_finalize.c
index d1e11be778..1af32581ea 100644
--- a/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_finalize.c
+++ b/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_finalize.c
@@ -422,6 +422,7 @@ int ompi_mpi_finalize(void)
     if (OMPI_SUCCESS != (ret = ompi_rte_finalize())) {
         return ret;
     }
+    ompi_rte_initialized = false;
 
     /* now close the rte framework */
     if (OMPI_SUCCESS != (ret = mca_base_framework_close(&ompi_rte_base_framework) ) ) {
diff --git a/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_init.c b/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_init.c
index eb851d4c99..324bc15909 100644
--- a/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_init.c
+++ b/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_init.c
@@ -123,6 +123,7 @@ const char ompi_version_string[] = OMPI_IDENT_STRING;
 bool ompi_mpi_init_started = false;
 bool ompi_mpi_initialized = false;
 bool ompi_mpi_finalized = false;
+bool ompi_rte_initialized = false;
 
 bool ompi_mpi_thread_multiple = false;
 int ompi_mpi_thread_requested = MPI_THREAD_SINGLE;
@@ -380,7 +381,6 @@ int ompi_mpi_init(int argc, char **argv, int requested, int *provided)
     size_t nprocs;
     char *error = NULL;
     struct timeval ompistart, ompistop;
-    bool rte_setup = false;
     ompi_rte_collective_t *coll;
     char *cmd=NULL, *av=NULL;
 
@@ -470,7 +470,7 @@ int ompi_mpi_init(int argc, char **argv, int requested, int *provided)
         error = "ompi_mpi_init: ompi_rte_init failed";
         goto error;
     }
-    rte_setup = true;
+    ompi_rte_initialized = true;
     
     /* check for timing request - get stop time and report elapsed time if so */
     if (ompi_enable_timing && 0 == OMPI_PROC_MY_NAME->vpid) {
@@ -955,16 +955,9 @@ int ompi_mpi_init(int argc, char **argv, int requested, int *provided)
         /* Only print a message if one was not already printed */
         if (NULL != error) {
             const char *err_msg = opal_strerror(ret);
-            /* If RTE was not setup yet, don't use opal_show_help */
-            if (rte_setup) {
-                opal_show_help("help-mpi-runtime",
-                               "mpi_init:startup:internal-failure", true,
-                               "MPI_INIT", "MPI_INIT", error, err_msg, ret);
-            } else {
-                opal_show_help("help-mpi-runtime",
-                               "mpi_init:startup:internal-failure", true,
-                               "MPI_INIT", "MPI_INIT", error, err_msg, ret);
-            }
+            opal_show_help("help-mpi-runtime",
+                           "mpi_init:startup:internal-failure", true,
+                           "MPI_INIT", "MPI_INIT", error, err_msg, ret);
         }
         return ret;
     }