diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index e5c0ebcbed..a58e183a00 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ gem "dalli"
 gem "listen", "~> 3.2", require: false, github: "guard/listen"
 gem "libxml-ruby", platforms: :ruby
 gem "connection_pool", require: false
+gem "rexml", require: false
 
 # for railties app_generator_test
 gem "bootsnap", ">= 1.4.4", require: false
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index 336c64155b..69630d0e2e 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -95,7 +95,6 @@ PATH
       concurrent-ruby (~> 1.0, >= 1.0.2)
       i18n (>= 1.6, < 2)
       minitest (>= 5.1)
-      rexml
       tzinfo (~> 2.0)
       zeitwerk (~> 2.3)
     rails (6.1.0.alpha)
@@ -607,6 +606,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   redis-namespace!
   resque
   resque-scheduler
+  rexml
   rouge
   rubocop (>= 0.90)
   rubocop-packaging
diff --git a/activesupport/activesupport.gemspec b/activesupport/activesupport.gemspec
index 9cffc2696c..72cd995f02 100644
--- a/activesupport/activesupport.gemspec
+++ b/activesupport/activesupport.gemspec
@@ -38,5 +38,4 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.add_dependency "concurrent-ruby", "~> 1.0", ">= 1.0.2"
   s.add_dependency "zeitwerk",        "~> 2.3"
   s.add_dependency "minitest",        ">= 5.1"
-  s.add_dependency "rexml"
 end
diff --git a/activesupport/lib/active_support/xml_mini/rexml.rb b/activesupport/lib/active_support/xml_mini/rexml.rb
index 8d6e3af066..626e0122ac 100644
--- a/activesupport/lib/active_support/xml_mini/rexml.rb
+++ b/activesupport/lib/active_support/xml_mini/rexml.rb
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ module ActiveSupport
       if data.eof?
         {}
       else
-        silence_warnings { require "rexml/document" } unless defined?(REXML::Document)
+        require_rexml unless defined?(REXML::Document)
         doc = REXML::Document.new(data)
 
         if doc.root
@@ -38,6 +38,14 @@ module ActiveSupport
     end
 
     private
+
+      def require_rexml
+        silence_warnings { require "rexml/document" }
+      rescue LoadError => e
+        $stderr.puts "You don't have rexml installed in your application. Please add it to your Gemfile and run bundle install"
+        raise e
+      end
+
       # Convert an XML element and merge into the hash
       #
       # hash::