diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/stylesheet-fo.xsl b/doc/src/sgml/stylesheet-fo.xsl
index 2f2517d8ce..38c96737d5 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/stylesheet-fo.xsl
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/stylesheet-fo.xsl
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@
 <!-- overrides stylesheet-common.xsl -->
 <!-- FOP needs us to be explicit about the font to use for right arrow -->
 <xsl:template match="returnvalue">
-  <fo:inline font-family="{$symbol.font.family}">&#x2192; </fo:inline>
+  <xsl:call-template name="symbol_font"><xsl:with-param name="content" select="'&#x2192; '"/></xsl:call-template>
   <xsl:call-template name="inline.monoseq"/>
 </xsl:template>
 
@@ -102,8 +102,9 @@
 </xsl:template>
 
 <!-- FOP needs us to be explicit about use of symbol font in some cases -->
-<xsl:template match="phrase[@role='symbol_font']">
-  <fo:inline font-family="{$symbol.font.family}"><xsl:value-of select="."/></fo:inline>
+<xsl:template name="symbol_font" match="phrase[@role='symbol_font']">
+  <xsl:param name="content" select="."/>
+  <fo:inline font-family="{$symbol.font.family}"><xsl:value-of select="$content"/></fo:inline>
 </xsl:template>
 
 <!-- bug fix from <https://sourceforge.net/p/docbook/bugs/1360/#831b> -->