diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 59e0d66d3..e3a53eaf2 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # reticulate (development version)
 
+- Fixed segfault encountered when running Python finalizer (#1663, #1664)
+
 # reticulate 1.39.0
 
 - Python background threads can now run in parallel with the R session (#1641).
diff --git a/R/package.R b/R/package.R
index f8b398b06..a1e4436d4 100644
--- a/R/package.R
+++ b/R/package.R
@@ -224,7 +224,9 @@ initialize_python <- function(required_module = NULL, use_environment = NULL) {
 
   )
 
-  reg.finalizer(.globals, function(e) py_finalize(), onexit = TRUE)
+  # allow disabling the Python finalizer
+  if (!tolower(Sys.getenv("RETICULATE_DISABLE_PYTHON_FINALIZER")) %in% c("true", "1", "yes"))
+    reg.finalizer(.globals, function(e) py_finalize(), onexit = TRUE)
 
   # set available flag indicating we have py bindings
   config$available <- TRUE
diff --git a/src/python.cpp b/src/python.cpp
index 18c49715c..483a561dc 100644
--- a/src/python.cpp
+++ b/src/python.cpp
@@ -1167,7 +1167,7 @@ PyObject* pandas_arrays () {
 }
 
 bool is_pandas_na_like(PyObject* x) {
-  const static PyObjectPtr np_nan(PyObject_GetAttrString(numpy(), "nan"));
+  const static PyObject* np_nan = PyObject_GetAttrString(numpy(), "nan");
   return is_pandas_na(x) || (x == Py_None) || (x == (PyObject*)np_nan);
 }
 
@@ -1203,11 +1203,16 @@ bool py_is_callable(PyObjectRef x) {
 
 // caches np.nditer function so we don't need to obtain it everytime we want to
 // cast numpy string arrays into R objects.
-PyObject* get_np_nditer () {
-  const static PyObjectPtr np_nditer(PyObject_GetAttrString(numpy(), "nditer"));
-  if (np_nditer.is_null()) {
-    throw PythonException(py_fetch_error());
-  }
+PyObject* get_np_nditer() {
+  static PyObject* np_nditer = []() -> PyObject* {
+    PyObject* np_nditer = PyObject_GetAttrString(numpy(), "nditer");
+    if (np_nditer == NULL) {
+      throw PythonException(py_fetch_error());
+    }
+    return np_nditer;
+  }();
+
+  // Return the static np_nditer
   return np_nditer;
 }