diff --git a/lib/SimpleSAML/Locale/Localization.php b/lib/SimpleSAML/Locale/Localization.php
index 5cf221353a876942ff11cb0245ee8afdc89c2eed..cbfc42c304b4dddd03e79622f88e0f2a6f4b538d 100644
--- a/lib/SimpleSAML/Locale/Localization.php
+++ b/lib/SimpleSAML/Locale/Localization.php
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ class Localization
     /**
      * The language backend to use
      */
-    private $i18nBackend;
+    public $i18nBackend;
 
     /**
      * Constructor