diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 6e56620c9..9fbb71a20 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ Bugs fixed
 * #1802: load plugin themes automatically when theme.conf use it as 'inherit'. Thanks to
   Takayuki Hirai.
 * #1794: custom theme extended from alabaster or sphinx_rtd_theme can't find base theme.
+* #1834: compatibility for docutils-0.13: handle_io_errors keyword argument for
+  docutils.io.FileInput cause TypeError.
 
 
 Release 1.3.1 (released Mar 17, 2015)
diff --git a/sphinx/environment.py b/sphinx/environment.py
index 11f395b43..47ebf7bd8 100644
--- a/sphinx/environment.py
+++ b/sphinx/environment.py
@@ -141,8 +141,6 @@ class SphinxFileInput(FileInput):
     def __init__(self, app, env, *args, **kwds):
         self.app = app
         self.env = env
-        # don't call sys.exit() on IOErrors
-        kwds['handle_io_errors'] = False
         kwds['error_handler'] = 'sphinx'  # py3: handle error on open.
         FileInput.__init__(self, *args, **kwds)