diff --git a/lib/irb/init.rb b/lib/irb/init.rb
index d9676fd9a..66e7b6146 100644
--- a/lib/irb/init.rb
+++ b/lib/irb/init.rb
@@ -389,18 +389,16 @@ def IRB.parse_opts(argv: ::ARGV)
     $LOAD_PATH.unshift(*load_path)
   end
 
-  # running config
+  # Run the config file
   def IRB.run_config
     if @CONF[:RC]
       begin
-        load rc_file
-      rescue LoadError, Errno::ENOENT
-      rescue # StandardError, ScriptError
-        print "load error: #{rc_file}\n"
-        print $!.class, ": ", $!, "\n"
-        for err in $@[0, $@.size - 2]
-          print "\t", err, "\n"
-        end
+        file = rc_file
+        # Because rc_file always returns `HOME/.irbrc` even if no rc file is present, we can't warn users about missing rc files.
+        # Otherwise, it'd be very noisy.
+        load file if File.exist?(file)
+      rescue StandardError, ScriptError => e
+        warn "Error loading RC file '#{file}':\n#{e.full_message(highlight: false)}"
       end
     end
   end
@@ -418,7 +416,7 @@ def IRB.rc_file(ext = IRBRC_EXT)
     end
     case rc_file = @CONF[:RC_NAME_GENERATOR].call(ext)
     when String
-      return rc_file
+      rc_file
     else
       fail IllegalRCNameGenerator
     end
diff --git a/test/irb/test_init.rb b/test/irb/test_init.rb
index b6a8f5529..7d11b5b50 100644
--- a/test/irb/test_init.rb
+++ b/test/irb/test_init.rb
@@ -218,4 +218,44 @@ def with_argv(argv)
       ARGV.replace(orig)
     end
   end
+
+  class InitIntegrationTest < IntegrationTestCase
+    def test_load_error_in_rc_file_is_warned
+      write_rc <<~'IRBRC'
+        require "file_that_does_not_exist"
+      IRBRC
+
+      write_ruby <<~'RUBY'
+        binding.irb
+      RUBY
+
+      output = run_ruby_file do
+        type "'foobar'"
+        type "exit"
+      end
+
+      # IRB session should still be started
+      assert_includes output, "foobar"
+      assert_includes output, 'cannot load such file -- file_that_does_not_exist (LoadError)'
+    end
+
+    def test_normal_errors_in_rc_file_is_warned
+      write_rc <<~'IRBRC'
+        raise "I'm an error"
+      IRBRC
+
+      write_ruby <<~'RUBY'
+        binding.irb
+      RUBY
+
+      output = run_ruby_file do
+        type "'foobar'"
+        type "exit"
+      end
+
+      # IRB session should still be started
+      assert_includes output, "foobar"
+      assert_includes output, 'I\'m an error (RuntimeError)'
+    end
+  end
 end