diff --git a/Lib/test/test_pyexpat.py b/Lib/test/test_pyexpat.py
index 216a46b903e..8ec808becf8 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_pyexpat.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_pyexpat.py
@@ -662,11 +662,9 @@ class MalformedInputTest(unittest.TestCase):
         # \xc2\x85 is UTF-8 encoded U+0085 (NEXT LINE)
         xml = b"<?xml version\xc2\x85='1.0'?>\r\n"
         parser = expat.ParserCreate()
-        try:
+        err_pattern = r'XML declaration not well-formed: line 1, column \d+'
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(expat.ExpatError, err_pattern):
             parser.Parse(xml, True)
-            self.fail()
-        except expat.ExpatError as e:
-            self.assertEqual(str(e), 'XML declaration not well-formed: line 1, column 14')
 
 class ErrorMessageTest(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_codes(self):
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 42d30a7cf40..2d4b4da9106 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -13,6 +13,12 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+Tests
+-----
+
+- Issue #27369: In test_pyexpat, avoid testing an error message detail that
+  changed in Expat 2.2.0.
+
 
 What's New in Python 3.4.5?
 ===========================