diff --git a/bindings/python/CMakeLists.txt b/bindings/python/CMakeLists.txt
index 8403e7306894667f7b63a93f844a4562d938d0d3..90d030a55245ad5ee4e0d691a093d6e160567fa7 100644
--- a/bindings/python/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/bindings/python/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,3 @@
-if(NOT BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
-  message(ERROR "Python bindings are only supported for shared libraries")
-endif()
-
 set(Python_ADDITIONAL_VERSIONS 3 2.7)
 find_package(PythonInterp REQUIRED)
 find_package(PythonLibsNew REQUIRED)
diff --git a/cmake/DetectOptions.cmake b/cmake/DetectOptions.cmake
index a484a5957f7c862b724cd102639b6339e7460c98..5022c676d3c31fe1dbaa82907f0ec9b72417a614 100644
--- a/cmake/DetectOptions.cmake
+++ b/cmake/DetectOptions.cmake
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ list(INSERT CMAKE_MODULE_PATH 0
   "${ADIOS2_SOURCE_DIR}/thirdparty/pybind11/pybind11/tools"
 )
 if(ADIOS2_USE_Python STREQUAL AUTO)
-  if(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
+  if(SHARED_LIBS_SUPPORTED AND ADIOS2_ENABLE_PIC)
     set(Python_ADDITIONAL_VERSIONS 3 2.7)
     find_package(PythonInterp)
     find_package(PythonLibsNew)